The Slayer Ascension: Cursed and Blessed.-Chapter 77: You are Next.

"YOU ARE NEXT."

Gazel turned, facing the last one in line.

The dead eyed girl did not move an inch.

She stood exactly where she had been, back near the wall, arms loose at her sides. Her gaze remained the same. Empty. Hollow. As if nothing in this world could reach her.

Gazel walked toward her.

One step.

Then another.

The ground crunched under his feet, stained with fresh blood. The air was thick with it.

He stopped right in front of her.

They stared at each other.

Straight into each other's eyes.

Gazel frowned slightly.

No malice.

No hatred.

No trembling fear.

Nothing.

In this state, he had no memory of his human self. No attachments. No past. And he did not care to remember. Why would he? Each death made him stronger. Each scream fed something inside him.

Why cling to being human when this felt better?

But if he could remember, if even a fragment of his old mind remained, he would have realized something was deeply wrong with the girl before him.

Gazel tilted his head.

"Are you really not scared of me?" he asked, voice cold, faintly amused.

The girl slowly shook her head.

"Why should I be? You just saved me."

Her tone was as dead as her eyes.

"Have you never heard the common tale about a princess saved by a knight in shining armor?"

Gazel's red eyes did not change.

"No."

She gave a small nod.

"I didn't think demons read stories anyway."

Her words were blunt. Flat. Despite how pretty she might have looked under different circumstances, those dead eyes made her seem almost eerie. Like a doll someone forgot to give a soul.

"So you are saying you are the damsel in distress?" Gazel asked.

He shook his head lightly.

"Actually, I believe creep in distress fits you better."

The girl laughed.

Anyone could tell it was forced. There was no emotion in it. No warmth. It sounded like someone imitating laughter without understanding it.

"And you are not any knight in shining armor," she replied. "You are a demon with a horn."

Her eyes shifted slightly to the single ashen horn jutting from his head.

"Funny," Gazel said, tilting his head again.

His lips curved into a smile, but the aura of death around him thickened. It pressed outward, heavy and suffocating, meant to shake her nerves. Meant to make her feel the dread before he tore her apart.

That was the fun part.

Breaking them first.

But his presence did nothing to her.

She smiled back.

That same lifeless smile.

"I don't really know what to say," she continued calmly. "In most cases, I would thank you. You did save me. But since you are going to eat me anyway, I don't think that is fitting."

Gazel stopped smiling.

Fine.

He would break that expression.

His hand shot forward and wrapped around her throat, lifting her slowly into the air.

Her feet left the ground.

Her body dangled.

She looked at him blankly as he raised her higher.

His fingers tightened.

Air was crushed out of her lungs. Her breathing cut off. The veins in her neck strained as suffocation set in.

Her face did not change.

Slowly, her eyes began to redden from lack of oxygen.

But that was it.

She did not thrash.

She did not claw at his hand.

She did not even try to escape.

She just stared at him.

If it were anyone else, they would have been unnerved.

Gazel was not.

He tightened his grip more.

And more.

Until it felt like her head should have popped off at any moment.

Still nothing.

Her body endured it. More than any human he had crushed before.

Her eyes slowly began to close.

Gazel frowned slightly.

Interesting.

If crushing her throat did nothing, then he would try something else.

He would reach in.

He would grab her heart.

He would clench it slowly and see if that dead expression finally shattered.

Meanwhile, as darkness crept into her vision, the girl thought something strange.

Of course this demon was going to kill her.

She knew that.

But even now, she felt nothing.

No rage.

No fear.

No despair.

Nothing.

As if she did not even exist.

Yet even now, as his claws sharpened and moved toward her chest, she felt like she should say it.

Thank you.

That was what humans said to someone who helped them.

And at the end of the day, no matter what he was about to do, he had saved her from those Shural who wanted to violate her.

Her eyes opened fully as she saw his claw gleam, ready to rip her heart out.

"Thank you," she muttered.

Gazel did not stop.

His hand shot forward.

But before it reached her chest, it froze.

Just stopped.

His red eyes flickered.

For a split second, they turned blue.

Then he dropped her.

She hit the ground hard.

Gazel staggered back, staring at his own blood soaked hands.

"What is going on…" he thought.

His eyes turned red again.

Then blue.

Then red.

The girl remained on the floor, staring up at him with that same unmoving expression.

He clutched his head, fingers digging into his scalp as if trying to rip something out.

His eyes kept shifting. Red. Blue. Red.

As if two beings were fighting for control inside the same body.

"Get away from here," he said.

That voice was different.

Human.

Strained.

Then his face twisted again.

"Come here and die."

Cold. Demonic.

The girl blinked slowly.

Is this supposed to be funny to humans?

She wondered that seriously.

After all, she was human. Wasn't she?

Gazel stumbled out of the alley, still holding his head. Still fighting. His steps were uneven, like a drunk man wrestling with an invisible enemy.

Luck or fate, he made it to the washroom.

He washed the blood off.

Scrubbed his hands.

His face.

Stared at himself in the mirror as his eyes kept flashing between red and blue.

Then he forced them blue.

For now.

He dragged himself to his room. The moment he stepped inside, exhaustion slammed into him. The strain of suppressing the demon crushed down on his body.

He collapsed onto the bed.

And slept.

Back to the present.

Gazel's eyes widened.

"I think I killed them all."

No.

"I killed them all."

The words echoed inside his mind as the dead eyed girl hugged him tightly.

Blaze stood beside them, looking back and forth between the two like his brain was glitching.

Wait.

Since when did Gazel have a girlfriend?

Blaze's head moved so fast it almost looked inhuman.

"Hey, you two, stop that. You can do the rest in private," Blaze said, stepping forward and pulling the girl away from a stunned Gazel.

The girl turned to him.

"Who are you?" she asked bluntly.

Blaze froze.

It felt like someone had stabbed him straight through the chest.

"Are you damn serious?" he said, pointing at himself. "Gazel didn't tell you I'm his best buddy?"

"No, he didn't," she replied calmly.

Blaze's heart cracked a little more.

He turned slowly to Gazel, who still looked shaken, eyes unfocused.

"Hey, buddy. That really hurts. Shouldn't you at least mention your best friend to your girlfriend?"

Gazel blinked.

"Which girlfriend?"

Blaze raised an eyebrow and pointed at the dead eyed girl.

"Her, of course."

Gazel looked at her.

Then he shook his head lightly.

"I only saw her once. She is not a friend of mine. Not to talk of a girlfriend."

His voice was flat.

He turned and began walking away, leaving the two behind.

"Where is he going?" the girl asked.

Blaze gave her a strange look.

"Is it true what he said? You two just met once? You are not even friends?"

Now that he thought about it, Gazel had only arrived yesterday.

When did this even happen?

The girl nodded.

"Yesterday night."

"Oh."

Blaze scratched his perfectly styled hair, eyes narrowing as something clicked.

A slow, cheeky grin spread across his face.

"Ohhh."

Now he understood.

"You must have the biggest crush on him. You met him yesterday and you are already hugging him like that."

Blaze grinned, a teasing light dancing in his eyes.

The dead eyed girl looked at him.

Her expression did not change.

"What crush?" she asked, voice blank.

Blaze twitched.

Did this girl grow up in a cave?

He stared at her for a second longer, then waved it off.

"Forget it. We are going to look for those nutheads. If you need help, come find us. After all, the crush of my friend is indirectly my friend as well."

He laughed at his own logic and walked away.

The girl watched him leave.

"…Okay," she muttered.

Meanwhile, Gazel walked through the vast structure of the Bulwark.

His steps were slow. Uneven.

His eyes were unfocused.

What have I done?

The thought echoed in his head like a hammer striking metal.

I killed three humans.

No.

Three Shural.

On my first day at the Bulwark.

This is bad.

Really bad.

The higher ups might assume demons infiltrated and killed them. That would be the easy explanation.

But that did not change the fact that they would become cautious.

Suspicious.

And if the Oracle decided to look deeper…

If the Oracle sensed something wrong with him…

Gazel exhaled slowly, guilt pressing down on his chest.

What woke the demon last night?

He had been asleep. Calm. Nothing triggered him.

So why did it surface?

Why did it take over?

He did not know.

And right now, he did not have the strength to even think about it.

He just wanted to wash his head. Clear the fog. Sleep. Maybe that would settle the storm inside him.

He turned into the corridor that led to his quarters.

Then a figure flashed.

A presence appeared before him.

Gazel slowly looked up.

His eyes shifted slightly.

And his heart dropped.

Ashiro Itsuki.

One of the figures he feared the most stood right in front of him.

Have they found me out?

Is he here to kill me personally?

His heart pounded so loud he could hear it in his ears.

"Sorry for stopping you like this," Ashiro said in his usual calm, monotone voice. "But I need to confirm something myself."

He raised his hand.

A white orb rested in his palm.

Gazel's heart did not just skip a beat.

It skipped several.

That orb.

The same device used to distinguish demon from human.

And blessed from cursed.

"Earlier you passed the test," Ashiro continued, lifting the orb slightly. "But I wanted to confirm with my own eyes."

His gaze locked onto Gazel.

"I want to confirm whether you are blessed… or cursed."

TO BE CONTINUED…

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