Just when it seed like the situation couldn’t get any worse, it did.
"I... thought you were my friend, Nica."
Selene let out a slow sigh, disappointnt settling across her face. But it didn’t linger for long. She was already used to this sort of thing.
"You weren’t any different from the rest of them, huh?"
Adam closed his eyes and groaned quietly at the sight of his niece looking so defeated. He had been asked to escort Selene through a Leak—not get dragged into so ssy drama that ordinary people sohow always found themselves in.
Leona would hate this.
He glanced upward, instinctively searching for Selene’s video drone, but quickly caught the glint of tal on the ground instead. The drone had already been shattered into pieces.
"Well, that’s good."
"D-don’t move!" Nica yanked on her whip, tightening the thorn-covered vines wrapped around Selene’s body. The sharp points hovered only milliters away from piercing her skin. "D-Dave! Co here!"
Dave remained frozen where he stood, still stunned by everything happening in front of him.
"Dave!"
The second scream snapped him out of it. He hurried behind Nica, though his eyes kept drifting toward Adam despite himself. Every ti their gazes nearly t, he instinctively looked away again.
There was sothing crushing in Adam’s stare. Sothing heavy enough to make his chest cave in.
"Here’s what’s going to happen," Nica said, trying to deepen her voice despite the shakiness creeping into it. "You’re going to let us go, and we’ll let Selene go. Is that—"
"Can you get out of this?" Adam ignored her completely, his attention fixed solely on Selene.
Selene lowered her eyes, lightly biting her lip before looking back up at him.
"I’m sorry, Uncle..." she muttered. "...I was only trained to fight monsters, not deal with... kidnappings."
"Don’t apologize," Adam cut her off imdiately. "Never apologize for being helpless. Don’t worry. This is why I’m—"
"Are you listening to ?!" Nica scread, tugging even harder on the whip. "Don’t ignore ! I am going to—huh?"
She nearly stumbled backward when the tension suddenly vanished from her hands.
Nica blinked and looked down. Her whip had been cut clean through. It dangled limply from her hand now, twitching like a dead green snake.
"This..." She looked up in horror, only to see that Adam was already peeling the severed whip away from Selene’s body, doing it so casually as if her whip was made of tissue.
"Grah!"
Nica scread as pain shot through her body, the connection between her and the whip rebounding violently into her mind. Adam flinched slightly at the sound, glancing toward her for just a mont—and then he was suddenly standing right in front of her.
A violent gust swept past as he moved, leaving a skirt of wind spiraling behind him. Nica instinctively covered her ears and staggered back, her eyes widening even further.
Twice now, she hadn’t seen him move at all, even though he was directly in front of her.
Panicking, she raised her hand to summon another whip—but Adam caught her wrist before her arm even left her waist.
"W—" That was all she managed to say before Adam lightly tapped her beneath the chin, and the color vanished from her eyes instantly.
Her body collapsed forward onto him, completely limp. Adam caught her without effort, briefly checking if her chest was still rising before casually dropping her to the ground.
He slowly turned his head toward Dave. The man’s entire body shook the mont Adam’s gaze landed on him. A strangled gasp escaped his throat as he instinctively stepped back.
"You... you killed her!" Dave shouted, panic bleeding into his voice.
"Hm?" Adam blinked, glancing down at Nica before shrugging lightly. "She’s just unconscious. She’ll wake up in a few hours. In prison."
"Wh—"
"Are the two of you friends?" Adam tilted his head slightly. "Then I’ll make sure you’re placed in the sa cell."
"You think I’m just going to surrender?!"
With nowhere left to run, Dave roared as his skin rapidly darkened into iron. The change spread across his body in jagged ripples until he looked more like a living statue. He lunged forward, and the ground beneath his feet exploded from the sheer force of his weight.
"I don’t care if you’re X-tier!" he scread. "You don’t actually have any feats to prove it! I bet the difference between you and isn’t even that big!"
His iron-clad fist twisted as he swung straight at Adam’s face. The force behind it was enough to send a violent ripple through the air, shaking nearby trees.
But just like before—Adam didn’t move.
The punch slamd directly into his cheek, yet his head didn’t even tilt.
"You’re dangerous," Adam said quietly, looking him straight in the eyes.
Dave’s confidence vanished instantly. He tried to leap away, but before he could even push off the ground, he felt sothing wrap around his neck.
Adam’s hand.
Dave struggled imdiately, but the mont he forced his body to move, a faint crack whispered into his ears. Slowly, he looked down and saw Adam’s arm extended toward him. Even without seeing it fully, Dave knew Adam’s fingers had already dug into his neck.
Then he felt himself being dragged downward. Adam pulled him closer until their faces were only inches apart.
"I’m very sorry for what’s about to happen to you," Adam whispered into his ear. "You may not necessarily deserve it in the future. Maybe you could even change soday. But right now... I don’t think I can risk you."
"P-please..." Dave’s voice broke apart. His iron skin faded rapidly, peeling away until he looked human again. "...Don’t... don’t kill ."
"Kill you?" Adam blinked, sounding genuinely confused. "We’re not in the Ga. Why would I kill you?"
Dave almost sighed in relief. Almost.
Because as he stared into Adam’s eyes, he realized sothing deeply wrong. They weren’t angry. They weren’t cold, either. They were...
...empty.
Not blank in the way of soone emotionless—worse.
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