The sidearm was cold and absolute against Hikari's head.
Raizen saw it and everything inside him went very, very quiet.
Not the Maw. The Maw kept moving - the ceiling fans pushing air, the food sending up gentle steam, someone's glass dropping and shattering on the floor.
But inside Raizen, the sound fell away. His breath completely cut. His body remembered something older.
For a white flash he saw the village wall exploding. He saw his father's feet leaving the ground. He heard his mother's broken voice, urging him to run.
The whisper sneaked through his mind again, intertwining with his thoughts.
Protect her.
He finally... Finally understood.
If he moved too late, he would lose Hikari the same way.
The fear didn't make him shake. It emptied him. The boy was gone. What the Rust Room built stood up.
A... Heartless killer.
Two things happened at once:
Hikari didn't move, she went statue-still.
And Raizen moved.
A fraction of a second, and his right hand was already on the pistol, wrenching the barrel off Hikari's skull and straight up, before the bodyguard could react, eyes widening - there wasn't time for anything else.
Raizen's movements were instant.
Perfect.
Filled with bloodlust.
Pivot. Raizen spun through the man's shoulder, dragged the wrist and folded the elbow, and the arm snapped into a brutal, clean lock - hand trapped, elbow pinned, shoulder captured.
He gave the pistol nowhere to live except in his own hands.
Then the lights went out. The bodyguard's lights.
Three touches: one under the ear, two fingers stabbing the jaw hinge, a short cruel rake where nerves live. The guard's body fell to the ground, paralyzed.
The weapon hummed as its grip brushed Raizen's sleeve, with utmost precision. He swiftly turned on his heel, and the tables turned.
The gun's dark mouth was now on another head. Marcus Valerius's.
From the first touch of steel to the sight on Marcus's head, less than a breath had passed.
The rust room finally showed the weapon it created.
The tune fell apart. The dice forgot to roll.
Marcus didn't flinch. Calm was his strong point and he showed it once again, the way a cornered king peacefully surrenders.
His hands lifted, fingers loose. His eyes were careful, as they had been when Obi walked up.
But they were not the same eyes. Terror lived behind them now. Terror of death.
"You don't want to do that" Marcus said, with a completely different tone.
"I don't want to do a lot of things" Raizen's eyes were cold, and his own voice frightened him.
It was flat. Emotionless.
"Let her go."
Behind him, Hikari finally exhaled.
She hadn't moved when the barrel pressed in, she didn't move now. But her heartbeat was fast enough for Mina to shout numbers and be concerned about it.
"Maybe it would be a wonderful idea to listen to the guy with the gun" Obi suggested, grin wiped off his face.
Marcus didn't glance at his man. He looked at the barrel. At the darkness inside it. The darkness that could mean certain death. His life was now in someone else's hands.
Then he looked at Hikari's wrist. Then he smiled, a professional expression that hid his trembling hands.
"Of course" he said softly. "We all want the same thing. No one dies here."
He started moving. Slowly. Two fingers pulled out a flat piece of metal in his vest's hidden pocket. It looked like a thick coin with a notch taken out and a symbol etched in the brass - a crown, simplified down to a simple shape. He brought it up where Raizen could see it.
"On the table" Raizen said.
Marcus obeyed. He set the token by the case's base and pushed it inside.
The bolt that had driven through wood pulled back up and disappeared. The case became portable again.
"The cuffs" Raizen went on.
Marcus's mouth twitched. "Key" he said, almost apologetically, as he pulled a thin metal thing from the inside of his pocket watch.
Hikari didn't look at him. Her vision was fixed on Raizen. The gun in his hand didn't even tremble.
Marcus twisted the key. The steel clicked again, opening. Hikari withdrew her hand, flexed fingers to make sure they were all still there, and quickly slid the case off the table with her other hand.
The Maw started murmuring again.
"Take it and leave" Marcus said. Still soft. Still polite. Sweat pearled at his hairline anyway. "You have what you came for. We can pretend this never happened, right?"
Raizen unloaded the sidearm with one precise movement.
Every bullet that was once ready to steal someone's life was now on the floor, meaningless.
Then, without saying anything else, he turned away and started moving towards the exit.
Obi and Hikari quietly followed.
At the door, Obi's smile came back all at once as if it had been hiding behind the last table.
"The beef really was great" he told the barman in a whisper. "Send one to our place. Put it on his tab."
"Obi" Hikari warned him.
"Right, right" he sighed. "Leaving."
They stepped out into the Underworks.
For some time, no one spoke.
Raizen's hands remembered that they were normal, human hands, and began to shake.
"Are you... Okay?" Obi asked without looking.
Raizen stayed quiet after what happened. He was shocked by his own capability. All that he could feel in that moment was bloodlust.
Him the same boy that saw people die in front of him. Him, the boy swearing to protect. And now, the feeling of pure bloodlust made him want to throw up.
So... This is how cruel the world is.. This is how cruel the world can make you... Thoughts ran through his mind.
He swallowed. "I... I don't know."
"You moved like… Like you slowed down time" Obi said, and tried to make it a compliment.
Hikari matched Raizen's steps. Her hand was slightly brushing his.
"You saved my life" she wanted to say, but her mouth couldn't move.
They took a turn into a narrower lane, avoiding busier streets.
The gun in Raizen's hand cooled to the touch of his skin. He stopped, just long enough to look at it. His face reflected off the slide in a dark smudge.
Was this what strength felt like? Was strength something... Drawn from desire to kill?
Faint memories of his parents flooded his head again. Somehow, his revenge felt right. The wish to kill every Nyx just... Made sense.
He tucked the weapon inside his coat where it wouldn't show.
The cold whisper returned for a second. It skimmed the edge of his thoughts again.
End anyone who tries to take her.
Raizen didn't know if that voice was just protecting Hikari…
…or slowly trying to rewrite him into a monster.