POV: HELENA IVYRA.
The man's body slammed against the opposite wall, toppling bookshelves and scattering fragments of wood and dust through the air.
I realized then that I had been completely detached from my surroundings.
Those flashes, those strange memories… they seemed to have stolen my attention for a moment.
'What's happening between them? Some kind of disagreement?'
I tried to focus, to understand the situation, but before I could organize my thoughts, the papyrus in my hand vibrated, spilling another wave of information into my mind. It was as if it was reacting to my emotions at that very moment.
Flashes. Fragments. Shards of knowledge ricocheted in my mind like stones skipped across a lake.
Waves spread through my consciousness.
The papyrus's writer… managed to leave traces of their own memory inside this? I wondered if that was even possible, considering what I knew.
The words came in disjointed sequences, like a crackling narration, full of interference.
"In the lost lands of Hella, the first to question divinity emerged…"
"From the Ideas, those who preceded the midwife herself."
"The Arché… the first cell of rationality…"
"The world's first concept, a foreign knowledge…".
"Around this world, there are temples or tombs… depending…"
"In them there is the…".
My brain seemed to seize for a moment. My eyes widened, and everything around me seemed to be suspended for a brief instant.
The bookshelf in front of me began to fall towards me, but its speed was infinitesimal. In fact, the world itself seemed infinitesimal.
I noticed my wrist glowing with a… purple hue? No, perhaps a deep blue. Regardless of the color, I saw it shine intensely and felt my eyes change, as if they had gained an enhanced ability, though this feeling was brief.
Because a new flash completed what I had heard before.
"(…) Cognos."
"A thousand… scattered around the world."
"When the blizzard arrives."
"Only the Scream, to, will cease.".
As I heard these words, I felt strangely calm, as if they were comforting… almost solemn words. For some reason, I felt like I had discovered the answer to something… but I still wasn't sure what the question itself was.
At that moment, I realized the slowed vision was interrupted by a crash. The bookshelf beside me began to split, and its fall, until then slow, accelerated towards me.
Without thinking, I leaped aside, papyrus in hand. I dropped it for an instant and activated my enchantment.
"Axiomatic Tessellation!" I proclaimed.
A hexagonal shield appeared between me and the bookshelf. Even though I reinforced it with energy, it couldn't hold for long.
It crashed into the shelf, and both dissolved into pieces. This bought me enough time to escape.
The shield fragments completely disintegrated.
I looked around… and froze. I sensed two terrifying magical presences. To my left, I felt the aura of that strange man from before. But now it was somehow different; it seemed free… as if it had been suppressed before. Too much so…
His aura seemed to emanate traces that could reach over 1400 QP.
How did I not feel this strength before…?
"I need to get out of here," I whispered, horrified.
However, between me and the exit was the other man, with a slightly lesser, but still terrifying, aura.
"1000? No… maybe something between 1200 and 1300," I pondered, trying to formulate a strategy to escape unnoticed.
These were absurd powers. Even if I could face one, the other would attack me from behind. They're monsters….
Unsure who was an ally or enemy, I considered the worst-case scenario. I crouched low, trying to suppress my own energy.
I picked up the papyrus again and tried to crawl towards the stairs….
But before I could advance even half a meter, the man who had fallen to the left stood up and emitted a strong sonic wave that stunned me.
The next second, he turned towards me. I saw his face more clearly: a man around 40, tall, with long, straight black hair, his face marked by years of neglect and fatigue. His physical strength, on the other hand… was evident. And his speed?.
Demonic… I felt it as I saw him close the distance between us in milliseconds. I tried to think of any possible reaction, but before I could….
The other man, blonde, dressed in an elegant green outfit, suddenly appeared, blocking the charge. The impact caused a sharp crack in the air. They stared at each other for a second, and then, without wasting time on words.
A light blue flame erupted from the green-clad man's hands, which he used in a sequence of hooks and high punches.
Using a boxing stance, he struck him one after another. Without wasting time.
Without unnecessary movements. It was almost instinctive, the way the man fought, showing the ease of someone dealing with a naughty younger brother. But who, in reality, was against a stronger opponent.
Who was this man?.
His opponent, though stronger, lacked the same precision. His muscular explosion was higher, compensating for lack of agility or martiality with brute force. His guard resisted more, and his hooks returned with a force that seemed to command gravity to succumb.
The man in green, agilely, moved before the powerful hooks could connect. And in a brief moment, he looked at the ground, and his feet set the green slime ablaze, causing a giant flare that separated them by several meters.
Blood rushed through my veins. I felt a strong adrenaline consume me. As a human, I felt like prey awaiting its end.
Fighting them? Definitely not an option. I needed to get out of here urgently. Now.
I watched them exchange glances. The man who was between me and the other cast a sidelong glance in my direction and nodded slightly. Was he… checking something?.
"Well, well… if it isn't my dear H. What a small world, huh? Budapest… now, Southern Brazil? An unusual, but cozy, place," the man in green said, with a strong accent that betrayed his foreign origin.
The strange man retreated a few more steps, took off his overcoat and threw it into the crater a few meters behind him, revealing several compartments in an old hunting suspender. In his hands, he had thick black gloves. Which he removed as he said:
"Noah. Still following me, you worm? Typical of a trash errand boy," H replied with disdain to the man apparently named Noah.
As he did so, he charged with his arms positioned in a high guard.
'Perhaps Muay-Thai?'
I wondered, analyzing the man's martial style.
"Always in a bad mood. But then again, from trash like you, I expect nothing," Noah retorted, activating the enchantment that amplified the blaze and made it stronger.
H attacked with a strong right hook aimed at Noah's face, who, instead of dodging, caught the blow. And redirected it to the side, enveloping the arm with strong flames.
But H seemed to anticipate this, and retaliated with an energetic explosion in a high kick with his right leg, pushing Noah in my direction. He was now less than five meters away.
"Says the SLI's handyman. Some kind of fill-in for those blind fools, trying to play hero," the man called H grumbled, examining his arm, which was singed in several places but intact.
"Ooh… someone got hurt by Budapest?" Noah provoked, bringing his arm to his neck, holding it casually.
"Oh, where are my manners, huh? Did the burn pain go away?" he said, with a slight ironic smirk.
"The only pain will be dirtying my clothes with your damned blood…" H replied, clearly irritated by the provocation.
"And, of course… with the blood of that little whore behind you," he concluded, pointing in my direction.
My body froze at that instant. My eyes widened in instinctive fear. But then I heard a strangely calm voice. It was Noah's voice, directly in my mind.
"Can you get up? My name is Noah, I'm a Federal Police Agent. I need you to trust me. When I give the signal, run to the stairs. I'll cover you. Understood?".
As I listened to the message, I saw Noah return to a kickboxing stance.
I replied mentally, with a faint voice…
"I can… alright." My tone conveyed the distrust I was feeling. But even so, I was determined to follow his instructions.
All this time, he had been between me and the other man. Perhaps, I should give him a vote of confidence..
I watched him turn back to H.
"Let's be gentlemen for a moment, how about it? This is something we need to settle, just the two of us. Let the young lady leave. Right?" he said, maintaining a lighter combat stance, but still cautious.
"Gentlemen…? You clearly have a distorted view of me," H affirmed, bringing his hand to his chin, as if pondering the offer. Or perhaps, thinking if sparing my life was worth it.
At that moment, a black aura filled the environment. And a deep voice, like the ocean. As dense as the gravity of a black hole, resounded….
"Listen, you paltry beings, to the WHISPER OF THE MARGINS!" the deep voice proclaimed, as if announcing Armageddon.
The lights vanished… the smell of sulfur filled the air. Shadows engulfed everything. And then….
I felt a shiver deep in my soul. I didn't see him. I didn't hear him. But I knew.
H was behind me. And in his hand….
A blade?.
No, an anchor of bluish energy, already in motion. My body reacted as best it could….
And I heard, at the same time, the deep voice say:
"As if I'd let that pest leave here with a book!"