Alice's heart skipped a beat as the unfamiliar voice rang out behind them, sending a shiver down her spine. She quickly glanced over her shoulder, trying to spot the source, but saw nothing but shadows and empty streets. The voice was cold, confident, and laced with authority, and it was clear it wasn't just anyone, this was someone important. The question now was: important how?
And just who exactly were they dealing with?
Without looking back, Shí'àn responded coolly:
"We're just passing through."
The response was curt, laced with a hint of challenge that was difficult to ignore, as if daring the unknown voice to try and stop them.
There was a pause as if the voice's owner was considering Shí'àn's answer, then a low chuckle echoed back, mocking, knowing.
"Just passing through," the voice repeated almost amusedly. "Through my territory?"
Alice tensed, her heart racing a little faster as the voice chuckled in reply. Her territory? Who on Earth was this girl?!
She glanced at Shí'àn, but the elder girl just kept her gaze fixed straight ahead, her expression giving nothing away.
"We mean no harm..." Shí'àn said carefully.
"Harm?"
The voice repeated, tone dripping with false sweetness. "My dear, what a strange choice of words for uninvited guests such as yourselves. Now why don't you two young ladies turn around for me? I love seeing the faces of my victims~"
"The faces of your victims..."
Alice felt her blood run cold at the words, this girl wasn't just confident in her power to stop them. She was looking for a confrontation.
She swallowed hard, fighting the urge to run and taking a deep breath instead. Then, reluctantly, she and Shí'àn slowly, carefully turned around.
The moment Alice turned, her eyes met the smirking face of a girl with long, silken silver hair and violet eyes that shimmered like poison under the blood-red sky.
She wore an elegant yet deadly-looking dress made of what appeared to be woven shadows, her fingers resting idly on the hilt of a curved blade at her side. Her lips curled into something between amusement and malice as she took them both in with one slow sweep of those unnatural violet irises.
"Oh my," she cooed mockingly before stepping forward from where she'd been hidden in shadow until now, movements smooth as liquid night itself moving across stone ground beneath boots laced crimson red like fresh-spilled blood.
Then came the voice again: soft but razor-edged all at the same time.
“So you two aren’t just trespassers.”
Alice's breath caught in her throat. The girl wasn't just dangerous, she was lethal. And she knew it.
Shí'àn remained still, expression unreadable, but Alice could feel the tension radiating off of her elder as if warning silent but clear: Don’t move a muscle.
The silver-haired witch tilted her head slightly, violet eyes gleaming with something between curiosity and cruelty.
"No introductions?" she mused aloud before taking another step closer, her presence alone making air around them thicken like tar itself being poured slowly over skin without mercy whatsoever…until finally stopping mere feet away now while one hand lifted up lazily toward her chin, where fingers drummed against pale flesh absentmindedly…
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Then came the question:
“Or are you simply too frightened to speak?”
And that...was when everything went wrong.
At that moment, Alice felt her heart drop into her stomach.
This girl, who was so clearly dangerous, was enjoying this little cat and mouse game. And from the way she was looking at them, like prey, there was no doubt in Alice's mind that she had every intention of toying with them as long as possible.
She glanced at Shí'àn, trying to discern something, anything, from the elder's expression. But Shí'àn's face was unreadable, gaze locked on their silver-haired adversary.
The silver-haired witch didn't miss the look between the two girls, and she chuckled softly, her fingers drumming faster against her chin now with an almost impatient air.
"Worried, are we?" she asked, eyes boring into Alice’s without blinking.
"You know," the witch mused, voice dropping to a silken purr as she took another step closer, too close, her presence practically suffocating now. "It's rare for outsiders like you to last even this long in Phenomena City without getting caught…but I suppose I could be convinced not to turn you both into splotches on the wall if someone answered my questions honestly~"
She tilted her head slightly toward Alice then and smiled, a slow curl of lips that sent ice down Alice’s spine. The witch slowly raises one arm, placing her hand behind her head. This shamelessly exposed her delicate looking armpit. She knows exactly what she's doing, as she never took her violet eyes off of Alice's dark blue ones, which drifted exactly to where the witch was expecting them to, letting out an affirmative hum in response.
"What's the matter? Never seen a pretty witch's armpit before~?”
Alice's breath hitched as her gaze did flicker downward for a split second, before she forced herself to look back up at the witch’s face with what little dignity she had left.
The silver-haired girl laughed, low and velvety, her violet eyes gleaming with wicked delight.
"Oh my," she purred, “You’re even easier than I thought."
Shí'àn stepped forward then, her voice sharp as ice:
"Enough."
Her crimson eyes burned into the witch like twin embers ready to ignite into flames any second now…
But their opponent only smirked wider before saying:
“What? I was only reaching for something,”
She laughed again, a sound both mocking and dangerous as she drew her broom…which doubled as a rifle, from her back.
Alice's breath caught again, her heartbeat pounding so loudly in her ears that it drowned out any other sound. Not that it mattered, since all that was going through her head in that moment was 'uh-oh she's got a gun’.
"Now, why don't you tell me what you're doing here in my city, hm?"
The silver-haired girl gestured with the rifle for Alice to answer, an edge in her voice that made her meaning clear: Speak. Now.
"We just- we just want to pass through..." Alice finally managed to stutter out, her voice trembling slightly.
The witch arched an eyebrow at the answer.
"Just... wanting to pass through?"
Her tone was skeptical, verging on mocking again.
"You're trying to tell me you just stumbled onto my territory by accident?"
Alice swallowed hard, her mind racing for a lie that would be believable enough to get them out of this situation alive. But before she could answer,
Shí'àn stepped forward again, her emerald green eyes locked onto the witch with unshakable resolve.
"We are here on business," Shí'àn said coolly. "And we have no quarrel with you or your kind."
The silver-haired girl let out another soft chuckle, this one laced with something darker than amusement now as she tilted her head slightly toward Alice once more while keeping the rifle barrel trained firmly on Shí’àn's chest instead...
“Business?”
She repeated slowly over a long pause filled only by wind howling through the city streets around them, until finally answering back after what felt like eternity passing:
“Then I suppose it doesn’t matter if either of you survive long enough to reach wherever your destination might actually be? Because trust me when I say…no outsider ever leaves Phenomena City unscathed.”
Her finger hovered near the trigger guard…waiting.
The witch's eyes gleamed with something unreadable, something between amusement and challenge.
"With that being said..." she mused, her voice dripping with false sweetness as the rifle remained steady in her grip. "Do tell—what exactly makes you so sure that you stand a chance against me?"
Shí'àn didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch.
Her emerald gaze burned into the silver-haired girl like twin brands searing into flesh itself before answering back in tone just as cold:
“Because I don't fight to win.”
A beat passed, silent save for wind howling through empty streets around them both…then came:
“...I fight to end things.”
Instead of responding, the witch let out an amused scoff…and fired her first round.
