Chapter 245 - The Lonely Devil (6)

(Jane's PoV)

"It's you!" I couldn't contain the excitement I felt. The feeling of meeting someone you know in a new place was really amazing. The initial fear was nowhere to be seen. The boundary that I built between us had disappeared as well. I only felt slightly relief that I met someone I knew here.

Even so, it was really odd that I met him here on my first visit in this dimension, on my first try -scratch that, I didn't even try to find him since the one I was looking for was the boss of the red devil. I already knew that this man was a devil, so finding him here wasn't that surprising for me.

But, meeting him on my first visit here was seriously strange. It was like fate was playing with me. He used to try to kill me but at the same time didn't really execute his deadly moves to me. Even though he was such an annoying man -no, devil -for always 'forcing' me to put my life on the line, I couldn't deny that he had taught me many things.

Ever since that day I saw his strange gaze when I mentioned about First Master and then when he helped me to get the robe.

To be more precise, it was after I saw a change of emotion in his gaze and face. He was not just a devil. He was something more than that and as much as I wanted to deny the curiosity in me, I wanted to know more about him.

Which leading me to have this unsuitable emotion towards him.

In which history stated that a human would feel happy when one met a devil?

Fear should be the right word. Or reverence, for those who worshipped them.

Happy had never been the word. Yet, that was what I felt the moment I saw him.

However, it was obvious that the man didn't share the same excitement that I felt. He had a stupefied expression on his face and his gaze said the impended words in his throat, "What are you doing here?"

"Is this your place?" I asked him casually, ignoring the big question mark above his head.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, instead of answering my question.

"Oh, I was chasing a bad guy nearby. Is this your place? Why are you sitting here alone?" I was moving closer to him as I threw him my question.

"Bad guy?" He frowned a bit, then he looked around with his sharp gaze. It was as if he was staring through the thick wall into somewhere far away. If he said he was scanning the perimeter, I would have believed him on the spot.

Seeing that his gaze and expression changed, I knew that he must have found the bad guy I mentioned. From the look of it, he knew that guy as well.

"Do you know him?" I raised my eyebrows in suspicion.

He pulled him back and stared at me. There was a faint smile in the corner of his lips when he looked at me, which confused me a bit. Even his gaze changed.

Admiration and... what was it? Why did I feel that he had the same gaze that Sanji had back then?

I shook my head. What was I thinking about? It was impossible, okay!

First, he was devil, a big shot in this realm. There was no way a devil could be with a human!

Second, I didn't even know his name! That's right!

Should I ask him? I scratched my face lightly while pondering whether I should ask it or not.

"Stop it." His hand grabbed my wrist, stopping me from scratching my non-itchy face and successfully pulling me back to the reality.

I was surprised since his action was too intimate for our status of relationship.

"You'll hurt yourself." He said softly.

Even more, could a devil be gentle?

Coming into this realm must have change my perspective or it might have put an illusion on me.

Focus, Jane, focus! You'll be trapped here if you don't focus yourself! I slapped my cheeks hard to wake me up from the illusion.

His gaze darkened and both of his hands grabbed my wrists tightly. "What are you doing?"

My eyes stared at his hands around my own wrists. Shaking his hands off me, I jumped backwards to maintain a good distance between us, ignoring his darkened face and a trace of hurt in his eyes.

"What now? Are you going to put me into another test?" I asked him warily.

"Don't get injured here. Even if you are someone with special constitution, this dimension is entirely different with yours. A small injury can lead you to be contaminated by the dark energy here. You won't feel it as long as you stay here, but once you return to your dimension, it will suck on your energy until there's nothing left." He explained helplessly. Even though he still had a hint of displeasure in his eyes, but mostly he looked like he was controlling his nature.

A devil tried to control their nature? It was something new for me.

But, was what he said true? I had never heard any of that information before.

"I have never heard about that." I frowned.

"Of course, since no man has ever come out alive from this place. Some souls got lost here before and they managed to return, but even though their bodies were saved from the dark energy, I couldn't say the same to their soul. You are the first living person who comes here and probably will be able to come out alive." He explained patiently.

Listening to his explanation made me feel that I was stepping into a whole new world. The feeling to learn something new was ignited inside my heart, yet there was a mix of fear inside. Was it okay for me to explore?

"No." A stern voice startled me before I could think any further. I looked up at the tall man in front of me who still maintained our distance and surprised when I found his face looked hard and full of determination.

"What?"

"Whatever you have in mind, you can't do it." He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"What I have in mind?" I asked innocently.

He stared at me again with darkened eyes. "You want to explore this place, don't you?"

I blinked my eyes to hide the surprise I felt. How did he know? Also, how did the topic change that much? As I was in a new environment, it was easy to sway my thought. My focus could be easily distracted if I didn't have goal in my mind. 

"You'd better go back to your dimension." He sighed, successfully pulling me back to the real reason I was here.

"No. I still want to meet that guy's boss." I stubbornly replied, but when I saw his handsome face darkened again, I knew that he wasn't pleased with my intention.

"Such an imprudent thought! Do you think just because you're stronger than the others out there you can easily overpower any demon lord here? It's your luck that you meet me and not the other demon lords. They could easily crush you, you know?" Sinister aura leaked from his body and it surrounded me.

If it were me months ago, I would have run away from this place. But, the current me didn't feel fear at all. I didn't have much confidence in me to actually defeat this man, but at least I knew that I could hold on much longer than our last fight. Whether I could win or not, I could only see when he sparred with me again.

Probably it was a good time to exchange pointer with him, but remembering there was someone out there who was still fighting to hold the fortress, I decided not to do that. Still, I needed to find this boss. So, let's use another way!