Golden-Eyed Reaper: Transmigrated As The Forgotten One

Chapter 14 - He himself, his enemy perhaps?

The very presence of the woman was enough for all his senses to scream 'death' however Noir had to keep his head calm, in a situation like this, keeping your head calm should be the top priority as they say, 'A calm one always reigns over the disturbed ones.'

He immediately distanced himself further from the woman, his whole body feeling stiff due to the mere pressure of Noctis that the woman was emitting,

"Fu*k." Noir cursed as he bit his own lips.

Blink.

The woman managed to close a distance of more than fifteen steps in a mere blink, it made it seem as if she had teleported, or had she?

'Sh*t.'

Defeating this woman was clearly going to take more than what Noir has in him and Noir was the one who knew it the most. Not having much options, he decided to use his trump card.

Black aura bled from his chest, curling around him like hungry smoke. In an instant, Noir was no longer human. His body stretched, twisted—The Demon's Blessing taking hold.

This time, it felt different. Sharper. Heavier. A golden eye snapped open on his chest, unblinking, watching. The world around him dragged like thick syrup. Or maybe it wasn't slow. Maybe he was just too fast.

The woman or monster, whatever she/it was, didn't let it go unnoticed and immediately took counter actions.

With a sharp crack, she tore her hand free, skin slipping away like old silk. Blood dripped, but she only sighed, rolling her shoulders. The exposed bone gleamed, sharpened to a blade.

She broke it off and grasped it tightly using her right hand, testing the grip, then smiled.

"Now, now..." Her voice was almost gentle. "Didn't you come to meet me?"

Noir moved back so swiftly that it seemed as if he was the one teleporting now, additionally due to the extra large golden eye on his chest, he could see things differently from a normal human, everything turned black except the woman, she was... she was shining like a brick of gold.

The contrast between grim-black and shining-gold made it easier for him to focus on his target, not to mention at certain times time would seem slow allowing Noir to prepare his next attack properly, though Noir wasn't sure if he was able to use that ability properly, it was his first time using it.

It had been only around 3 minutes since the battle started, so far they hadn't exchanged a single blow, Noir had been dodging and she had been madly attacking like a wild-pig.

One, two, three and so on. If this were a game, she'd be button-mashing. Wild, relentless.

'I wonder how long I can keep up.'

Unlike Noir, she was probably pretty far in the Nefarious path and probably had lots of noctis in herself, which was very likely the reason for her to attack mindlessly, well she being mindless is also another. Noir? He had a lot of noctis in him, but not as much as her.

"Why?? If you entered my zane then it would surely mean you wanted to meet with me, right??" She added with one of the creepiest smiles that Noir had ever seen, "Then why are you keeping distance?" her eyes clearly screamed bloodlust.

Well looking at her now, one would consider a new metaphor since the wild-pig one seemed like an insult... to the pigs.

Just as Noir dodged her attacks, his body barely survived getting chopped into two pieces. For what seemed like another dodge, it wasn't, not because he barely survived but because he for the first time was able to use the skill on his own will, the time-related skill. Of course, this was the reason for the late reaction.

Due to this he managed to catch her off-guard, it was possibly not even a single second but due to his golden-eyes including the extra one, things seemed slower, if Noir had to describe the passing of time right now, it would be, 'One second equals to ten.'

While ten seconds wasn't much, it was more than enough for his current situation.

"Cursed Weave." he spoke fast yet quietly to prevent any information being given away to her.

His plan was perfect, what was it? It was to-

'Keep on dodging her attacks while releasing black threads, after I do a complete round of this area, I just have to flick and... flawless.'

He smiled faintly as he proceeded with the plan, leaving black threads behind connected to a large pile of flesh, the reason he was leaving more than one thread was simple, if by any chance she manages to dodge that, he can just close another one and this time it was very likely she would be caught off-guard.

To be precise, the number of threads he left behind was more than six and it was very unlikely for someone to continuously dodge six possibly unexpected attacks coming at an insane speed.

It took some time and a lot of efforts but at last he succeeded, now all that was left was for him to rise above the ground level, the woman could possibly fly too which is why he made sure to make it unnoticeable and just barely survive by not rising too high, the thread trap was at the ground level with some a bit higher than the ground level, however none were raised to high.

His wings fluttered fastly but only once, allowing him to barely rise a little.

The minimum distance which Noir had aimed for, was reached.

'Took long.' the corners of his lips slowly forming into a smile.

Flick.

The threads snapped shut. Limbs fell. Her lips curled—was she smiling? Then her head hit the ground.

Unlike what Noir had expected, she wasn't able to dodge it and got chopped into four slices.

The first slice consisted of her head, the second consisted of her neck and a bit lower parts, the third consisted of the chest till the stomach and the fourth was the lower body. Rivers of dark-red blood flew, Noir wasn't exactly unshaken by it but it didn't leave much of an impression on him, not because of any cliche reasons but because... he had seen worse.

If Noir were to lose instead of her then... it wouldn't be her who would be chopped four slices it would be him... and not in four but possibly hundreds, the exact number is unpredictable as it never happened as well as because the person in question is no less than 'insane'.

Staring at the slices, Noir felt something, one that made him feel odd. Was he taking the same path again? The same mistake?

'No, no, I am- It doesn't matter anymore.'

Noir exhaled. It was over.

His body ached. His wings hung heavy. The battlefield was silent except for the slow drip of blood pooling beneath a severed corpse.

His golden eye dimmed. His whole body felt like lead.

Then,

A twitch.

His breath caught.

The sensation was faint, almost nothing, but unmistakable.

Something was pulling.

Noir stiffened as a sharp tug rippled through his chest, like unseen hands clawing at him from the inside.

Not fire. Not pain. Something deeper—like his soul was unraveling thread by thread.

His knees buckled. He clutched his chest, desperate to stop it. But there was nothing to hold onto.

His eye—his very soul—was being stolen.

A choked gasp tore from his throat as the pain surged. His vision flickered, the battlefield blurring into nothing.

And then—

Something snapped.

Noir collapsed forward, gasping.

His golden eye was gone.

His chest—hollow. His very being—missing something vital.

He trembled as he lifted his gaze—

And saw it.

Floating in front of him.

His golden eye—but no longer his.

It hovered midair, pulsing with an eerie light.

Then—a hand reached out and took it.

A familiar hand.

Noir's stomach twisted as he followed the arm upward, his breath catching in his throat.

Standing before him—was himself.

Not a reflection. Not a shadow.

Him.

Same face. Same body. But the difference was in the eyes.

This other Noir—this thing—held the golden eye between his fingers, rolling it like a marble. A slow smirk spread across his lips.

Then, in a voice exactly like his own, he chuckled.

"Thanks for this."

And crushed it.

"You'll thank yourself later."

Darkness swallowed everything.

...