Uncharted Waters [I]

Silence descended upon the room. Although Edric was now alone, the figures seemed hesitant to approach. 

His hood had fallen back at some point during the scuffle, so his draconic form was now fully visible. His gaze alone was enough to make some of the figures take a few cautious steps backwards.

"A drasvalik," one of them whispered softly, as if merely uttering the word would cause some calamity.

Several more stepped back, muttering inaudible prayers under their breaths.

"Look at its leg! Whatever it is, it certainly ain't no drasvalik!" one of them shouted boldly, before stepping forward.

They removed their cloak to reveal a frog-like face, its massive green eyes staring straight at Edric's with contempt.

~An alien?~ Edric thought to himself, before gripping his scythe even tighter.

~No, more likely just a different race, after all this is a world where magic exists,~ he quickly realized.

"I'm gonna flay you, lizard meat," the frog-man shouted, its maw opening into a wide grin.

"You small fries just watch and learn. This is why the boss made me captain," it added, as a small trail of black mist escaped from its mouth.

It began to recite an incantation which sounded like gibberish, but based on the way its body was glowing, Edric suspected it to be a spell.

~I need to kill it before it finishes,~ he realized, however after taking a step forward, he was sent an agonizing reminder that his ankle was still a mangled mess.

He nearly faltered from the pain. The only things keeping him standing were grit and willpower, but even those were running thin.

"Where's your security!?" he shouted, turning to look at the clerk who was still cowering behind the desk with Afina.

"I rang the panic bell a few minutes ago, she should've been here by now," the clerk replied, none of his former composure left.

~Maybe I can summon the employee again?~ Edric thought to himself, before whispering 'billow'. He quickly selected the 『employee card』, however, it didn't ignite.

『Insufficient arcane energy!』 

~Well, that's just perfect.~

Just then the frog-man finished its incantations.

An ethereal dagger formed out of black mist floated above its head, oozing with sinister power.

"Song of the thief... life-burglar," the frog-man said with a smile. 

With that, the dagger tilted so that its tip was pointed at Edric, before thrashing towards him like an angry viper.

He dodged as far to the side as his mangled ankle would allow him, however, the dagger changed trajectory accordingly, locking in on him like a homing missile.

~Damn.~

Just as the tip of the dagger met his chest, a mesmerizing melody trickled into his ears.

Time seemed to slow down... no, time did slow down. The knife was suspended in place, not moving an inch from where it was.

The melody became louder, enthralling and captivating everyone in the room. Its waves were felt on Edric's scales, soothing and eerie at the same time.

He tried to move, but it was as if the air were made of glue. Though, luckily, it seemed that the same was true for everyone else.

A moment later, a figure dressed in a white cloak walked past Edric, the source of the melody.

Their walk was slow, and casual, as if they were on their way to do a chore.

Once they reached the frog-man, they pulled out a small dagger, before slashing its throat. 

~Th-this is crazy,~ Edric thought to himself. He had assumed that he'd see powerful magic sooner or later, but he hadn't been expecting something like this. 

If that person so-willed it, he'd be dead right now. In this instant they were a god, and everyone else in the room was a sinner, awaiting judgment.

He was scared yes, but beyond that, he was angry that someone else held that power. He wanted it for himself, he wanted to be god too.

The white-cloaked figure moved towards the other gang members, slitting each of their throats one by one. 

The victims did not scream out in pain, or react to the attacks. They were truly and fully entranced by the melody, seemingly unaware that they had even been killed.

~I need to get out of here!~ 

Every fibre of Edric's body screamed at him to run away, and in turn, he raged at them to move. His instincts were in overdrive, he felt like prey in front of a predator.

It was a feeling similar to that he felt whilst he was around Eleanor. He could tell this person was somewhere around her power level.

~You said you were going to be a god, so move!~ he screamed internally. 

The harder he tried to move, the thicker the 'glue' around him became. However, after imploring all the strength available within his body, he managed to move his arms, even if it was just a few millimetres.

The white-cloaked figure instantly turned to look at him, still singing its enthralling melody.

They stared at him for a moment, as if trying to decide something, before slowly looking back at the remaining gang members.

Once judgment was passed on all of them, the song stopped, and the air was allowed to flow freely once more.

The instant Edric felt its effects fade away, he moved to escape, however, the white-cloaked figure was already in front of him.

For a moment, there was complete silence. He knew that trying to run away was useless. He wasn't even able to process the figure's movements right now, let alone try to escape it.

He had been a fool to assume that it even needed that odd magic trance to kill him.

"You're... almost beautiful. Just like me," a soothing voice commented. Its sound alone was enough to melt the heart.

The figure removed its cloak, revealing itself to be a porcelain-skinned woman, with ocean-blue eyes. Her hair flowed in the air unnaturally, almost as if she were underwater.

Her beauty was unlike anything he had ever seen before.

However, the gills on the side of her neck were enough to prevent him from getting any ideas.

~A siren?~ he thought to himself.