Special Side Story 2- Stilled Snake

A black car with tinted windows parked in front of the street, having sat there for a full 30 minutes.

The apartment was the one and the same with the apartment that Nova lived in.

Some of the people living in the apartment complex stared with a look of curiosity.

A man with a tattoo of a snake on the left side of his face and no hair finally exited from the car.

He wore a black suit with a red shirt underneath.

The neighbors began to talk amongst themselves and murmur.

『Who is he? He looks intimidating...』

『Should we call the nobles? What are they here for..?』

He slowly began to walk up to the second floor of the apartment building, causing some fear to the people who saw him get closer.

『Oh my god, is he going to rob one of us?』

『What should we do?!』

Fortunately for them, he stopped in front of an apartment with nobody inside it- Nova's.

He shook the doorknob repeatedly and pulled back and forth in an attempt to open it.

The man even showed traces of using a large amount of mana- unfortunately for him, Nova had asked Oswald to seal the room shut so that nobody would rob Nova's house while he was gone.

However, his attack on the door was stopped by a middle aged woman's voice.

『Excuse me, do you have business here?』

He turned his body to a middle aged woman with curly brown hair and a wrinkled face.

The man stared at her with a solemn but intimidating face.

『...Who are you?』

She raised a hand to her chest.

『I am Heather, the landlord of this apartment complex. If you have something to do with Lil' Nova's home, you have to go over it with me first.』[Heather]

The man pulled his fist back slowly in an attempt to get her to back off.

The neighbors began to scream and shout in panic.

『Hey! Wait!』

『Don't hurt the landlord!』

『Someone stop him!』

She slowly closed her eyes as she prepared to be hit.

After he pulled it back and prepared to swing at her, he suddenly found there was no way to move his fist forward.

Standing behind him was a handsome and slim, yet tall man with striking white hair that covered a portion of his eyes that seemed to glow brighter than gold.

He had a white suit coat that rested over a casual white suit containing a singular contrasting black tie.

When the man with the tattoo looked closer, he saw that the man had a grip on his arm.

『Solane! You're just in time!』[Heather]

He nodded slowly while maintaining the grip on the man with the tattoo.

『This man is trying to get into your apartment and start some violence! Please take care of him.』[Heather]

At this point, the man with the tattoo was sweating bullets.

Any squirming he did to try and escape was nullified by the man with the white hair's grip.

Eventually, Solane began to walk with the man in tow, dragging him slowly down the stairs before dragging him behind the apartment building.

The landlady sighed in relief and quietly returned to her own home.

…..

In contrast to the silence at the apartment, another place was filled with noise.

The screaming of the tattooed man filled a space that was far from there.

Solane kicked the man, causing him to fly about 50 feet, crashing into an abandoned building.

『What purpose do you have there?』[Solane]

He spat out a wad of blood that had accumulated in his mouth.

『W-w-who are you?』[Tattooed man]

Solane shook his head before putting his left hand in his pants pocket.

The man's question was rewarded with an axe kick to the top of his head.

『I'm asking the questions. If you do not answer, I will inflict the worst level of hell onto you.』[Solane]

Solane snapped his fingers.

『Come to me, Xelyix.』[Solane]

A rippling appeared in the air in front of him before a voice began to speak incoherently.

The man with the tattoo pushed himself off the ground and stared up at Solane in fear.

『Tell me. I am not a patient man.』[Solane]

『I… can't. If I do, then...』[Tattooed man]

He didn't get to finish his sentence.

『Xelyix. Rip out his fingernails.』[Solane]

The rippling air in front of them suddenly turned into a grotesque bloodied face with tendrils and sharp needles on the edge of the tendrils.

It jammed the needles in between the man's fingernails.

『GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! 』[Tattooed man]

He screamed both in fear and in pain, right before a pair of teeth began to appear under his fingernails and forced them away from their original position.

『PLEASE! STOP!!』[Tattooed man]

『Tell me. I'll stop when you tell me why you were there.』[Solane]

His fingernails threatened to be ripped off, with a few already being pried into a 90 degree angle from the teeth pushing them up.

『I WAS HIRED! BY A YOUNG GIRL WITH PRETTY HAIR!』[Tattooed man]

A purple glow suddenly appeared on the right side of his neck.

『Good.』[Solane]

He snapped his fingers, causing the man's fingers to return to normal.

The man looked down at his fingers that seemed fixed and by the time he looked up, Solane was gone.

When the man stood up, he suddenly heard some noises approaching from behind him.

『...You broke the contract.』

He turned around to see an extremely attractive teenage girl with long black hair and a yellow star-shaped hairpin holding a book.

『Hmm… have you ever read this book?』

She lifted the book up to show the title "Worth of a Life".

The man's screams filled the skies that day.

.....

Solane had returned to the apartment, standing in front of Nova's apartment.

He raised his hand and pressed against the door with a finger, causing it to gently swing open on its own.

Upon entering the house, he had found it in the same condition as Nova left it in.

After looking around for a brief moment, he went straight towards the dining room table.

『Treasury.』[Solane]

A white light floated in front of him that radiated waves of mana.

He reached in and took a blue card out of it, laying it on the table.

『...Sorry for the late birthday gift, Nova.』[Solane]

He also placed a red card and a green card next to them.

After placing these down, he slowly left the house before gently closing the door.

Right before he left, he pointed into the apartment with two fingers before he shut the door and placed his hand on it, swiftly.

『Point of air, point of flare, point of rains, point of planes, let none leave, nor none escape.』[Solane]

A multicolored star appeared on the door that had colors that flowed into each other before turning invisible.

He slowly turned and made his way down the stairs before giving a sigh and looking back at the apartment.

『...Stay safe, son.��[Solane]