34 Red Flame Eyed

'She never knew that from that point, he fell in love on her.'

~Third Person's Point of View~

"I'm so glad... Really, I'm so glad." Ash said while holding her hands.

For some reason, Zoey looked in to his face for the first time and felt bit lighter than before. The feeling was unusual to her. For the the first time she looked at someone by their kindness and purity, not by evil intentions. She used to feel danger just by being near with a man, but with this wheelchair guy in front of her and holding her hands, she felt safe. That was really unusual to her.

Men are the only ones who are capable of doing the kind of danger that women won't ever want to face. That was she used to think towards men, to all men.

"My hands. Let go."

"Oh... Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I'm just.. Oh." then he immediately pushed back himself away to give distance from her.

"That was just my overwhelmed reaction, there's no intention. It's just this is the first time I decided to save someone in danger. When I saw you in their hands, I couldn't act normal and aggressively kill them in order to save a poor girl." he said as he calmed himself for being overreacting.

"I didn't ask anyone's help in the first place."

"I know, but you were desperately want to free yourself from them. You wanted to be saved."

But Zoey stayed silent and didn't respond to what he said. Her attention got diverted on his legs and was staring at it. Ash noticed that.

"My legs look healthy so, why am I in a wheelchair, right?"

She didn't respond so, he pulled up his pants and showed her his ankles that were being restrained by shackles. It was connected on the wheelchair.

"I can walk, but can't walk freely without harming anyone as what I wanted just like the others. That's why I need this to prevent me from standing."

"But... Why?" she asked that made Ash smile slightly.

"If I feel freedom, I tend to kill. If I feel like I'm restrained by something and weak, I can control myself. In short, I'm the worst when I remove this and once I get free I kill anyone who's blocking my sight. I'm a murderer to be exact. And all this is because of the devil inside me... Just like you."

He explained while looking at her. After that, none of them talk. They just looked at each other's eyes.

Ash was also a person who had devil inside, a kind of devil that could control him once his feet laid on the ground. But not as soon as he got free from shackles, there's a time limit where he could control himself and after that he'd be lost. This devil got awoken when that time his parents got murdered, he sought for justice and chose to be a bounty hunter where he could find and kill all the criminals through the wanted posters with a high price on their heads. He thought that this would be the best thing he could do for their parents and for a living.

But he didn't expect that there would be a consequence to his pledge.

Ever since he lost his parents, he started killing the criminals. He had this mindset that if he didn't move on he would be in a miserable life, especially that he had Akane. The girl who pretended to be his sister. When they were small, he left her for a while in someone else's care that he knew. He looked for the killers who murdered his parents and killed them one by one brutally just by the age of 12. He knew well who he was facing, and they were very notorious people. That's the start of his journey as a bounty hunter.

The journey of... kill or be killed.

The consequence was that, the more he killed the more the chances he could turn to his devil form. The type of his devil was filled by his revenge and anger to all criminals, for justice or not didn't matter. That's why when he noticed this, he restrained himself by a special shackles to make him weak and to prevent the mass killing.

As he accomplished the first thing he had to do, he went back to get his sister and lived a life as the bounty hunters. They hid in the forest and taught his sister to defend herself, since most of the time he was not with her to hunt criminals. And when she turned 11, that's when he tagged her with him and let her hunt and kill for her first job. From then on, as the journey goes on, they met Jinno, Seia, Layla, Kano, and Nami in order. Layla and Kano were originally bounty hunter individuals while he saved and helped the rest. He thought that it's best to create a group that would lend a hand and cooporate for a secure accomplishment. Thus, their group was made under the name of Mythics.

On the same night when Zoey and Ash first spoke to each other, Zoey told him that she'd come with them to watch bonfire. So, Ash left the room with relieved and a big smile on his face. Of course, the group got shocked when he told about it to them. They even bet if their leader would be either failed or succeeded.

"So, then, can I talk to her?" Seia asked.

"Try it to find out, Seia." Layla suggested.

"Yeah. Me too, there'll be chances that she can be one of us. I'll go with you." Kano uttered.

But when Seia and Kano were about to go upstairs, Nami blocked the way.

"You can talk to her when she comes down and go with us to the bonfire. There's no need to approach her first, it's risky." she said while looking at them seriously.

"Oh, what's this? Our very own risk-free Nami is stopping us because she said it's dangerous. Ahahaha!"

"I can be serious once is a while bastard!"

"Ok. Ok, fine. I'll talk to her later when she comes down." Kano said as he gave up willingly.

"Seia?" then she averted her sight towards Seia, indicating if she still wants to go up.

"Then, me too." she responded.

It was not really important if they talk to her or not.

"That's not so you, Nami. But I wouldn't disagree. Just like you said it's risky." Akane said.

"Yeah. When the leader said that she's one of those people who have devils, that's a warning. We've already encountered several and most of them had no mercy and uncontrollable." Nami agreed.

"Then, why leader saved someone like her?" Seia asked then, they all looked at him.

"Well..." he utterly said.

"Well...?" they said in tune except Jinno.

"Hmm... I wonder why too. Anyways, get dressed already. And Nami, give some clothes for her to wear later at the bonfire." Ash said as he also gave orders, leaving them out of words in the lobby.

"Wait... What? Hey, leader... Why me?" she frantically confused, but they also started to leave. "Hey, guys... Wait... Why me? This is really sucks."

Jinno let out a sigh. "It's because you are more cautious towards her than any of us here."

"Gee. Just why on earth leader saved her and even let her in here?"

"You might not notice, but I think he did that because she has the same situation as Ash. He wanted to save those people like him but he just couldn't do it and failed many times. But this time is exceptional. I think that's another reason why he restrained himself, he does that to prevent on killing the innocent people, us, and also the people who suffers because of their darkness." Jinno expressed what he thought as he was most likely the one who could understand Ash fully.

They went at the place where people celebrating the festival and where they held the bonfire. Zoey really did come along with them, and as they were with her there were times that they took a glance at her, but apart of being cautious towards her nothing particular to worry about. In addition, she seemed normal to them compare to that day Ash brought her and she didn't seem to care about her surroundings, even though she knew that they'd act like this towards her. The only strange to them is that why she was walking besides Ash, aside Akane that pushing its wheelchair.

As they watched the bonfire, Layla caught suspicious people that were looking at their direction.

"The bonfire is truly magnificent, but there are some people who don't give a shit. They don't learn their lessons no matter what a teacher disciplined them. They are ruining the beauty of fire." she said randomly that only the members of Mythics could understand.

They all displayed seriousness on their face that would indicate that they were preparing for something big. But at the same time they were suppressing their aura and acted as if like they haven't noticed the enemy yet.

While Ash used his hand to lean his face on it, he smirked bluntly. "Why don't we discipline them again. I hope they'll learn this time."

Then, they left their position and was gone in the crowd. Zoey didn't follow them and continued on watching the bonfire. They noticed that and it was a good thing for them. While walking towards where the cliff was, they felt that someone was following them, a lot of them actually. And as they arrived the place, a beautiful vast array of starry sky welcomed them. It was such a shame that they didn't have time to appreciate its beauty fully.

After a moment, the suspicious people came out and revealed themselves as expected. They surrounded the Mythics.

"I see. It's the underdog mundanes." Kano uttered.

"Don't underestimate us, fools. We're here to take revenge for our boss!" the tattooed man on his bald head shouted. He seemed like the one who was leading them.

"I didn't know you lots care about that. Well, I'd say you're wasting time here. Your boss's head is in the headquarters collection. Go there and get it." Nami said and mocking them.

"You demons! You'll pay for it!" the man said as he raised his arm to give a sign for the attack.

"Oh, wait there a sec. We just merely did what we have to do."

But the gang didn't listen to what Kano said and continued on running towards them left, right, back, and forth. Not giving them a chance to escape.

"Hmm... You ask for it. No regrets in the end, OK." Akane uttered then, she swung her poisonous leather whip at the ruffians as soon as the five jumped leaving her and their leader at the center. Some who were behind got stunned when they saw their accomplices that got heavy smacks on their bodies then, they fell and was paralyzed. The table got turned, and it was them who were corning the ruffians. The members jumped off and landed behind these men.

"I suggest you all to pay attention on your backs coz what's in front of you is more deadly path than us. Either way, good luck." Seia said as she suddenly disappeared and attacked them without being able to see her.

The battle had begun. It took longer for the Mythics to finish the fighting, and as expected these ruffians couldn't take down them. Only ten more of them, and the battle would end soon. But making them tired during the battle was what they perceived. They made sure to do whatever it takes for the succession of the plan, for the sake of retribution. As the Mythics thought that it would be done sooner or later, they all went back where their leader was. They would finish them off in one attack, especially that the remainings were in front. No more in left and right, or even behind. And when they were about to attack, one of the ruffians stopped them.

"Wait!"

"Oh, giving up?"

But the ruffian smirked, "That's not listed in our jargon."

"That's some courage."

"Yes, that's right. Using innocent people as the shield can only be done by us."

"You bastard!" Nami shouted and about to attack when he suddenly revealed a remote control from his pocket.

"You dare to? In just one push of this and then boom! I'm sure you all know what the red button means, right? Ahahahaha!" then they all laughed in one.

"Nami stand back. It's now time the leader to mess with their heads." Ash said in foul mood as he moved forward.

"So, the leader finally moving his ass out huh. Ahahaha!"

"How dare you... You're really gonna regret it.!" Akane clenched her fist tightly.

"It's no use even if it's you, the leader. If you move an inch there... you know the drill----Boom!"

"Let's see if who's faster then." Ash said as he threw the shackles on them. "Once I set a foot on the ground, be prepared."

The man stepped back once he saw Ash's left eye. It was burning in red flame. A demon was in front of them. They begun trembling in fear.

"N-Now!" he shouted, and then out of the blue something stabbed through Ash's neck. It was a small wooden pick that makes a person paralyzed.

"You think we didn't know that the leader of Mythics is a killing machine demon!? We wouldn't be here if we're not enough prepared! AHAHAHAHA!"

Ash couldn't move, there was something inside his body that stopping him from moving. And as they watched their leader in that situation they felt more anger. No one dared to humiliate them like that.

"What do you want?" Layla asked, which made the ruffians grin.

"Kneel down on us. All of you." he demanded which they did. Seeing them made the ruffians overjoyed.

"Now, lay on the ground and kiss it for us. Ahahahaha!" he ordered again.

But this time they hesitated, kneeling was nothing for them but kissing the ground for some fools like these ruffians and ordering them as they pleased was a big humiliation. A big sin for these fools.

"If you don't want to, then beg for it. If that also hurts your pride then a torture will do." the man said glancing at his complices to prepare while grinning.

"Tch. Then, why not start torturing us now? But just to warn you, if you lay a finger on our leader. I'll rip off your damn head." Jinno said, glaring at the man.

It affected the man as he got stunned, nevertheless he didn't budge. He thought that in their situation they can only talk. They won't do anything as long as they don't touch their leader plus the people at the bonfire.

He giggled thinking that it was his victory, "Well then, let's the party begi----"

"Hey, garrulous man..."

But he couldn't finish his talk when a girl suddenly showed up in the middle of them, standing in front of Ash and the others. She popped out of nowhere.

"Mind if I join?"

Zoey said while holding the bomb from her back. And the whole Mythics could see that. From that point, their thoughts about her changed. She stood in front of the enemies to protect them even though she didn't have to deal with them. She stood for them. But the real goal of Zoey was to suicide along the ruffians using the bomb. For whatever reason she had, it didn't matter to them because for them she protected them and having that thought gave them strengths to stand up again. They stood up except Akane who was confused and didn't really trust Zoey's intention. Nami got confused at the strange actions of the enemies because since the moment Zoey showed up in front of them, they all got stunned and seemed they couldn't move.

It was like something that the enemies saw that they couldn't.

"A-Another demon?!" the man shouted which made them more difficult to figure out what really happened to these men.

It was because these men were looking at Zoey's deep red eyes and giving them terrible fear. And with one step of her, they all moved back.

"D-Don't! If you do, I-I'll use this!" the man warned her as he was pointing the remote control on her. He was threatening Zoey, but to her, it's foolish.

"Do it then." she uttered which gave them chills. "Do it." then she stepped one step towards them.

With that being said which just sounded like a command, out of fear the man pushed the red button. But in 0.01 seconds they had, before the man pushed the button, Ash stood up and held Zoey as he retrieved the bomb and threw it away in his incredible speed. He prevented the mass killing from the bomb and saved Zoey.

He never knew that from that point, he would fall in love on her. From the moment his human right eye saw her tears flowing from her deep red eyes, while watching the explosion in the air.

"Hey..." Ash utterly said that made Zoey look at him. "What is your name?"

To be continued...