Solaris stared into Selen's emotionless eyes for a moment, his heart skipping a beat.
After a moment, Solaris calmed himself down; the words Selen had just said were some he'd longed to hear, yet now that she said them, he had to accept the truth.
Sighing, Solaris closed his eyes, then opened them again.
"You don't need to protect my feelings; they will be gone soon enough anyway."
Selen looked as if she was about to speak again, yet she bit her tongue and listened to the man before her.
"I know you did not miss us, and you certainly aren't glad we're back..." Solaris debated his next words for a moment, then spoke. "I know that you don't have feelings... or rather they are locked away behind excessive use of your Extramicy."
Selens's eye widened so slightly that it was almost imperceptible.
"So please don't attempt to make me feel better about my experiences, just be you."
Selen sat idly for a short while, then spoke.
"You're right, I do have feelings, and yes, they are locked behind my Extramicy, but I still want to try being a human with emotions. Even if I have to pretend."
Selen looked at her plate and sighed before standing.
She said only one thing before leaving the room.
"Thanks for this date."
She spoke in a completely detached tone as if it was only to drive the stake deeper into Solaris.
Solaris sat in silence in the room, now empty.
"Fuck."
He was trying so hard not to bring the fact of Sacrifices up, yet he had failed; he had completely misread so many signs and apparently ruined a date.
Solaris sighed and stood up.
***
A sword slashed across Solaris's body, barely missing him as it did.
Solaris dodged back, his soul heating up and the dark room he was in growing slightly brighter.
In his right hand, a silver blade was being held, its edge altered by a myriad of shards; on his left, a black coating was covering it.
Where are you! Not once but two times I've had to fight a demon in the dark while it teleports around!
Solaris shivered slightly, remembering the Prince
Solaris looked around the room; he was fighting a troublesome general.
The creature seemed to be able to phase through walls and objects, but he wasn't sure the room was dark, and it made it tough to see.
Solaris willed his shards to form a protective and adaptable shield around him, something he had done many times while in hell.
The difference this time was that there were even more shards, due to the shadow shards created by his mantle.
Closing his eyes, he focused entirely on the senses of the shards and shadows.
As he did, he felt a movement just below, about to cut him in half.
Solaris dodged to the left, narrowly missing the sharp fin that acted like a sword. Using the creature's own momentum, Solaris slashed his sword, while simultaneously the fabric of his mantle shot out and wrapped around the creature's body, holding it in place.
The sword made contact with the creature, slicing through it and cutting it in half.
The creature fell to the ground, squirming while blood and internal organs dripped out from its severed body.
Solaris sheathed his sword and willed the shards to hover behind his back like a ring.
Bending down, he heated up his hands and plunged them into the creature's squirming body, before his muscles tightened and the creature went still.
Removing his hands from the little demon, two shattered crystals fell to the floor.
Solaris sighed and began to leave the room he had been fighting in.
It had been a few days since Solaris had his lunch with Selen; he had seen her since and even talked to her about hell. Yet he refused to honor his original deal; he didn't want to make any rash assumptions again, so he refrained from asking her the questions he had.
During this time, Solaris had been cleared for training every day and was even sent on some missions to kill demons.
This last one had taken longer, and he had even been cut at the beginning of the battle.
"Fighting on earth is certainly different."
Solaris said, rolling the cramp out of his shoulder.
He had begun to notice it when he went to take out his first demon; the fight had been much harder than he'd originally anticipated.
It wasn't due to the individual strength of the demon; rather, it was an external factor. It was the wind and the air of the earth.
It was significantly heavier and much more difficult to move through.
While in hell, he had the luxury of no wind, so every attack had no resistance. Due to this, Solaris was a perfect hunter; while on Earth, he was a bit slower and clumsier.
Solaris let out a slight chuckle.
"At least I won't get a stupid nickname again."
Opening a door, Solaris was greeted by the bright light of the sun.
It was the middle of the day, and he was out here killing a vile flesh-eating creature.
What am I doing with my life?
Solaris inwardly shook his head before walking down the sidewalk.
The mantle had slid back under his skin along with the shards before he had even left the building as to not draw too much attention.
There was, however, nothing he could do about his sword.
So from time to time he got some strange and some scared looks from the people on the streets.
It was time like that, when he wished he could just fly like Ember, but alas, with the air on earth, he had too much resistance to do it safely, not to mention the birds.
Solaris shivered slightly at the thought of birds.
After a little bit of walking, he found a city car and drove back to the crimson cross.
Upon getting there, he headed straight for the dining room; he had worked up quite an appetite while hunting.
Opening the door to the room, he was met by three faces, two he recognized and one who was new to him.
The first one was Ember, then the second was the girl who had been taking notes in the interview with John Smith, while the third was someone Solaris could swear he'd never seen before.
"Hello, I'm Solaris Gunther. Nice to meet you, ill leave you three to be sorry to barge in."
As he went to close the door, the man Solaris didn't recognize spoke up.
"It's quite fine, Solaris. Come in, I'd love to catch up."
Before Solaris could voice his confusion about the words, his eyes wandered to the man's face.
Previously, he'd only seen the man's back, and now, having turned around to speak with Solaris, he was privy to the man's front side.
On his face, he wore a pair of joke glasses with a comically large nose and bushy eyebrows, while on his shirt, he had a name tag on; it read Jon Smit.
shit, and I made that big display at the interview.
Scolding himself inwardly, Solaris entered the room, greeting the two people.
Then he took a seat next to Ember.
"So, to what do we owe this pleasure?"
Ember spoke in a respectful and professional tone, something Solaris rarely heard.
"I need you two to lead a team into hell."
Solaris's eyes widened, his heart started to pound as he felt the world around him grow farther away.
Why me...