Chapter 6- Who or What Was My Savior?
(First Person POV – Charlotte)
I didn't know what to do.
Every instinct told me to run, to scream, to do anything to get away from the girl in front of me. She was too calm, too still. Even in the dim alley light, her mismatched eyes—one as dark as a starless void and the other a deep, unnatural red—felt wrong. Not strange. Not rare.
Wrong.
She tilted her head slightly, as if weighing something in her mind. The movement was slow and careful, like a predator deciding if the effort was worth it.
And then I heard it.
Footsteps.
Behind me.
Sharp, fast, closing in.
My stomach dropped. I had forgotten about them.
"Oh no…" I whispered under my breath. "Not now."
The girl's eyes shifted past me without moving her head at first. Then she looked fully over my shoulder, her expression unchanged. She didn't seem surprised. She didn't seem alarmed.
She simply watched.
Before I could think of anything else, she disappeared.
Not ran.
Not stepped aside.
Disappeared.
"Wait… where did she—"
A dull crack echoed through the alley, followed by a grunt of pain and the heavy sound of a body hitting concrete.
I slowly turned around.
What I saw made my heart pound harder than before.
(Third Person POV)
The girl had already engaged the nearest pursuer.
Her leg lashed out in a clean, precise kick that struck the man square in the torso. The force was unbelievable. He flew off his feet and crashed into the wall hard enough to fracture the brick. The sound was sickening—metal meeting reinforced muscle.
For a moment, the girl winced. There was a subtle tightening in her jaw. Her leg had felt that. The man's body was not just ordinary flesh.
The two other pursuers froze in shock, their eyes darting between their fallen companion and the girl standing calmly where he had been.
Then their expressions hardened.
Void Energy flared.
One man's right arm twisted unnaturally as fur erupted across his skin. Muscles bulged. Fingers elongated into curved claws like a tiger's. The air filled with the faint scent of ozone and wild musk.
The other man's hands began to spark, thin strands of electricity crawling across his knuckles and up his forearms. Blue-white arcs snapped between his fingers as he flexed them.
Both were Unnaturals.
Both at least First Star Physical Rank.
They began to circle her.
The girl shifted slightly, adjusting her stance so her back faced the alley wall. It was a simple move but a smart one. Now neither opponent could attack from behind. Both stayed in her direct line of sight.
"You should have kept running," the man with the tiger-claw arm growled.
The girl said nothing.
The tiger-claw man lunged first. His strike was fast, cutting through the air with a sharp whistle. She stepped aside at the last moment, the claw grazing her shoulder.
At that exact moment, the electricity user attacked.
A bolt of compressed current shot forward, striking her side.
Her body tensed.
The shock traveled through her frame, forcing a grunt from her lips. The scent of burned fabric filled the alley.
But she did not fall.
Instead, she moved.
In one swift motion, she grabbed the tiger-claw man's arm—the very limb infused with Void reinforcement—and pulled him closer.
The electricity continued.
But now it flowed through both of them.
The tiger-claw man screamed.
"Stop! Stop it!" he roared at his partner.
The electricity user hesitated, panic flashing across his face as he realized he was frying his own ally.
That moment of distraction was all she needed.
With a strength that defied her slim frame, she pivoted and swung the tiger-claw man like a weapon. His body collided with the electricity user, sending both flying through the air. They slammed into the same wall where their first companion lay groaning.
The impact was devastating.
Bricks cracked. Dust rained down.
When the dust settled, all three men lay crumpled together, barely conscious.
The alley fell silent.
(First Person POV – Charlotte)
I could not move.
I could barely breathe.
She had defeated them so easily that I struggled to process it. These were not ordinary officers. Even someone like me, who avoided attention at all costs, knew what their presence meant.
All police officers were Unnaturals.
Most were at least First Star in the Physical System. Some specialized units were even First Star in the Mental System.
And she had beaten three of them.
Without hesitation.
Without effort.
She walked toward their unconscious bodies.
I wanted to tell her to stop. I wanted to say something—anything—but my throat felt dry.
She bent down, grabbed the first man by the collar, and lifted him with one hand. He groaned weakly.
Then she placed her hand around his neck.
There was a sharp crack.
My stomach turned.
She dropped him like discarded trash and moved to the second.
"Wait…" I whispered, but no sound came out.
Another crack.
Then another.
Three bodies.
Still.
Completely still.
I felt cold.
When she rolled one of them over, something caught the faint light of the alley lamp.
A badge.
A police badge.
My breath hitched.
If she had not stepped in, they would have taken me. And in the slums, being taken by police rarely meant paperwork and warnings. It meant disappearing.
But now they were dead.
And I was standing in the same alley as the one who killed them.
What if she decided I was inconvenient?
What if she thought I had seen too much?
What if—
"Hey," she said calmly.
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
She looked at me as if we had just finished discussing the weather.
"Are you okay, girl?"
Her voice was steady. Almost gentle.
"Y-Yes," I stammered. "I—I'm fine. Thank you for saving me."
She studied me for a moment, those mismatched eyes unreadable.
"Good."
That was it. Just good.
Then she turned and began searching the bodies.
I blinked.
Was she… looting them?
She moved efficiently, checking pockets, removing small storage pouches, extracting coin slips. She did not rush. She did not look nervous.
Didn't she realize killing officers would trigger an investigation?
Unless…
Unless she did not care.
Unless she knew something I did not.
I swallowed. This was my chance. She was distracted. I could run.
"So," she said without looking at me, "the price for saving you is sixty mid-tier coins."
I froze.
"What?" I blurted.
She finally looked at me again and extended her hand.
"Sixty mid-tier coins," she repeated calmly. "Emergency intervention fee."
I stared at her.
Sixty mid-tier coins was not cheap, especially for someone like me. But it was not outrageous either. In fact, it was… reasonable.
Painfully normal.
"You're… charging me?" I asked weakly.
"I do not work for free," she replied. "You were about to be detained. Possibly worse. Sixty is fair."
I hesitated.
She tilted her head again.
"If you cannot pay," she continued evenly, "we can negotiate alternative compensation."
My eyes widened immediately. "No! I mean—no, I can pay."
I hurriedly reached into the hidden pockets sewn into my clothes. One by one, I pulled out the coins I had saved over months of small jobs.
Ten.
Twenty.
Forty.
My hands trembled slightly as I counted the last of them.
"Sixty," I said quietly, placing the coins into her outstretched palm.
She weighed them briefly, then slipped them into her pocket.
"Transaction complete," she said.
"That's it?" I asked before I could stop myself.
She glanced at the three bodies. "You should leave before patrol rotation changes. This area will be scanned within the hour."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
She paused.
Then, after a moment, she said, "I listen."
That was not an answer.
"What are you?" I whispered.
She looked at me for a long second.
"Alive," she replied.
And then she stepped backward.
For just a blink, the air around her seemed to distort, like heat rising from pavement. And in the next second—
She was gone.
No footsteps.
No sound.
Just absence.
I stood alone in the alley with three dead officers and sixty fewer coins.
My savior had killed without hesitation, charged a fee, and vanished like a ghost.
And the worst part?
I was not sure whether I had been rescued—
Or spared.