***NEED WORK

The torn cloak fell, the wind blowing it away to the side.
The rain bit harder, and the wind screamed louder.

Viper let out a dark chuckle.
“Well, isn’t this a great honor.” he said tightly.

I tore my gaze from the girl and back at Viper.
He was smirking, but his eyes were guarded and stiff, betraying his cool composure. The smugness in his expression and the mocking tone was long gone. All because the dark stranger turned out to be her…
Who was she?

My eyes found their way back to the mystery girl who had literally saved my soul.

Who was she? What kind of power did she have over Viper?

I studied the stranger, searching for answers.
The girl was wearing a long black trench coat, the front mostly undone. The top she wore was also black, made of some securely fitted material. On her hands, she wore a pair of fingerless gloves. Almost everything she wore was black, except for her dark grey cargo pants. The style and the crisp fit of the gear gave me an impression that it was some sort of uniform.
She was pretty… beautiful, with her jet-black hair, sharp facial features and her pale complexion despite her Asian oriental looks.

The girl shifted her weight smoothly to her left, and returned her katana back to its sheath. Then she rested her left wrist almost casually on the hilt of her katana.

I don’t know what it was, but something about her told me she wasn’t human. Her appearance just screamed out great strength and power, too strong to be human.
Even stranger than that was the fact this feeling was both intimidating and comforting.

I saw the girl look off to the side to where my body was lying in its twisted state. Moments seemed to turn into hours as she continued to gaze at my body, her face completely expressionless.
Then she lifted her gaze up from the ground and straight at Viper, her eyes dark and piercing.

Suddenly the surrounding air came to life, silently roaring in fierce anger. The power of it crashed down on me hard, making it hard to breathe. It if felt like the rain had grown into a heavy waterfall over my head. The extreme surge of energy was overwhelming, and it wasn’t even directed at me.
It was just the air around this girl… it felt like it was eating away at the space between us.
I felt myself go icy and rigid.

So much power… who was this girl?

I turned back at Viper with a struggle, darkly curious to see how he reacted to her immense pressure.

Viper was still standing, though his smirk was now more like a tight grimace. He stepped back, fighting to keep his ground.
The girl’s left hand gripped the hilt of her sword but didn’t draw it out as she snapped her right hand across the air in front of her in a swift, cutting swipe.

The pressure lifted as if the tension had been sliced, returning the air to its dark calm.

Viper let out a soft laugh as he straightened his posture.
“Impressive, stranger.” he complimented in an amused tone.
The girl didn’t say a thing, her gaze not faltering one bit.
Viper’s eyes hardened with equal ice, his smirk turning into a slight sneer.
“Oh?” he murmured darkly.

I swallowed hard, feeling stiff and weak.
Both Viper and the girl was a number of yards away from me, seemingly equal in distance. And I was stuck in the dead middle…

Suddenly, Viper started to clap, the sound sharp and stinging as the rain.

“Quite a performance you gave, saving my dinner from her doom without any reason or gaining benefit. Such a great hero,” he said grandly.
The girl’s eyes flashed dangerously, not even blinking once. She still didn’t speak.
Viper went on.
“Tell me, does this hero have a name?”

“I have no plans to introduce myself to the dead.”

I jumped, started at the clear, smooth voice that resonated from the girl’s lips. The tone was sharp, cold and cutting, but the words had flowed with grace.
I saw Viper’s lips curled into a small confident smile.
“No, no; not the dead…the undead.” he corrected, as if was the polite thing to do.
“Not when I am through with you.” the girl replied.

Viper blinked, looking innocent and amused. He let out a quiet sigh, shaking his head.
“You’re as confident as I hear you are, Slayer. I can see why Ravador decided to keep you.”

I thought I saw the icy edge of the girl’s expression slip a little into one that was a bit softer---shock. But then, she regained control, and put on a guarded, focused expression.

Viper clicked his tongue, eyeing the girl.
“You seem awfully surprised about something. Was it something I said?” he asked innocently.

The stranger continued to say nothing, her focused gaze unwavering. Viper stared back with an amused look for a few seconds and then chuckled. Slowly, and limply, he lifted his hand to the side of his head.
“Now, now…wouldn’t want you to think too had of it.” he said, tapping his fingertips once against his temple.

Instantly, the girl’s focus broke, as if broken out of a trance. Another look of shock flitted across her eyes before again forcing herself back to composure.
“How did you know?” she murmured, her low tone demanding an answer.
Viper chuckled again silently and shook the rain from his dripping hair.
“You will have to clarify, Slayer; I have the knowledge of over several thousand---”

A sudden, jagged flash of light cut horizontally through the air just missing Viper’s face by an inch, effectively cutting him off. Not half a second later, the great sound of thunder ripped through the dark space.
I screamed, my hands flying to my ears and my voice completely smothered. Bewildered, my instincts took over and searched the dark playground around me.

And almost immediately, my gaze landed on the girl.

Her stance was now different; it was still relaxed and easy but her left arm was raised in front of her, a finger pointing at Viper in a manner that was almost lazy.
Small shreds of static flashed, flickered and danced around her hand and wrists, before dying out on her trench coat’s sleeve.
“Answer my question, demon.” she ordered, her voice very calm despite the high tension of the air.
A vicious snarl flashed across his expression before he composed himself and laughed quietly.
“And what would the consequence be if I choose to do otherwise?” he returned smartly.
The girl raised her left hand in front of her face. A light glow slowly but steadily bloomed and enveloped her hand before cracking into rippling streams of electric currents, humming and buzzing in quiet threat.

Viper clicked his tongue against his teeth, an edge coming into his casual expression.
“Oh?” he mused. “Alright, what answer do you seek?”
His tone was polite, but tighter than his previous tone.

The electric static of the girl’s hand flashed brighter and shrieked angrily against the dark.
“Do not test me.” she growled, her voice flowing out in doubled layers.

I felt myself bristle at her new voice, shock and fear rocking me to the core.
Angry, calm, serene yet vicious all at the same breath, what was she?

Viper let out a dark chuckle, his eyes flashing. His eyes flickered in my direction, as if to check if I was still here.
“As I said before, I have the knowledge of over several thousand of years.”
With that, he turned his dark gaze and intense focus back on his opponent.
“Very well. Please, allow me to relieve you the burden of the initial greetings.” he said coolly.
I flinched when he sent a sharp glance my way.
“Cella, it is my pleasure to introduce you to our guest of honor.” he called to me, his tone dripping with false modesty.

I saw the angry electric current of the girl’s hand flicker, and fade out.
Viper smirked, going on.
“A Slayer of a high caliber, one of the High-Class Aequitas, a well-rumored member of the Elite rank Electus, an Immortal working right under the Supreme Elder Ravador’s wing.”

A Slayer… a slayer of what?
Aequitas?
Electus?
Who in the world was ’Ravador’?

Then my mind focused on one point of the introduction Viper have given, the only part I actually comprehended…

“An Immortal.” I echoed, unable to look away from the girl.
She wasn’t looking back though. Her hand slowly lowered down to her side, her eyes becoming sharper and colder as she stared at Viper, if that was even possible.
I heard Viper chuckle under his breath.
“Yes love,” he murmured.
“She’s not human either.”
“Is it not obvious?”

I felt a strange dropping sensation sink through my skin and chilled my heart.
What kind of world is this?
It was all unreal, impossible. This is just one bad nightmare… a really, really bad nightmare…

“She is very gifted, considering she is only a few centuries old; quite young for an Immortal of her rank.” Viper continued thoughtfully.

What is he talking about?

I stared at him, and a pang of uneasy fear shot through my chest when our eyes met. He smirked at me with a smug expression.
“But believe it or not, that is only what she lets out as the known about herself”

…What? Why is he telling me all this?

The Immortal girl shifted, dropping her guarded stance and straightening into a normal stand. She took a deep breath, exhaled silently, and closed her eyes against the howling wind and rain.

Viper’s eyes flashed as he went on.
“Cella, would you like to know something excessively interesting; something that is almost scandalous about this Slayer?” he asked.
“No,” I returned curtly, sounding every bit rude.
But Viper ignored me, and went on anyway, except this time his focus was back on the girl.
“You asked how I know the things I do.” he called to her clearly over the biting wind. “I know of your abilities, your existence and your identity of the time before your Slayer days!”

The stranger didn’t react, her eyes still closed.

Viper chuckled again, shaking his head.
“I even know of the deep bond between you and your Supreme Elder!”

The girl sighed softly, and finally opened her eyes, rain dripping down the sides of her face.
“It seems as if you are telling the truth.” she murmured.

Viper blinked and then laughed.
“Of course I’m telling the truth! Surely you would know the facts I am speaking of.”

Then suddenly, his expression changed, swiftly going from laughing to a dark maniacal grin. With one blurred step, he was standing only three feet away from me. I screamed, throwing myself forward into the mud.
Viper licked his lips and smiled, revealing his sharp, deadly teeth.
“And that makes you vulnerable, only to me!” he hissed.

His arm moved in a blur, too fast for my eyes, and even faster for my mind to register what was going on.
I saw a crescent-shaped shadow zip across the ground at a blinding speed right at the Immortal girl. It swallowed her figure into dark just as it crashed into her body. And then I saw her figure get ripped into two.

My mind went numb as I heard Viper shriek out a laughter in the background.

She was killed…torn into two…with one swipe.
She didn’t even stand a chance…

“Of course I would know.” came a clear, calm voice from somewhere behind us.

I wheeled around just to catch Viper’s incredulous expression, and the Immortal girl flash into view behind him. Her eyes were sharp and locked onto her enemy as her body was pitched forward in a sharply angled dive around his frozen body.

“Those facts belong to me.” she said in a low voice.

Everything happened all at once, and I didn’t even catch a blur. There were sounds, and then there was a monstrous shriek of pain, and more sounds following that, all lasting less than a minute. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t feel.

When my mind finally stopped spinning, I realized I was covered in foreign blood.