are an interesting girl ... there is something special about you ... I just can't say what it is yet ..."
Before Suki can react, she stands directly in front of her, now again in the form of the young woman in white. Suki is paralyzed and does not dare to move, even when she feels Chitori's cold fingertips on her chin."But that's why I brought you here ... thanks to me you will avoid an execution by Cerberus and in return, I can have a little fun with you ... whatever it is that you are hiding ... me think I'll tickle it out of you ... "
With a big grin, she suddenly disappears without a trace, only to reappear a few meters away at almost the same moment, right next to Sey. Almost as if she wanted to mock her, she leans on his shoulder, her eyes still on Suki. There is a challenging twinkle in her red eyes that makes Suki increasingly suspicious.
"...What you up to?"
In response, Suki only gets a low chuckle while Chitori lifts her left arm with an elegant movement. A thin silver dagger appears in the palm of her hand. Smiling, she lets the shiny blade rest on Sey's neck.
"No! Wait! ... Please, stop it!"
Suki feels a slight panic attack rise within him. She walks up to Chitori with trembling hands.
"I ... I'm warning you! If you hurt him, then ..."
"Big words for a little scared girl ... I wonder what if I ..."
She tilts the blade a few millimeters, causing a few shiny drops of blood to run down it.
"Stop it!"
Chitori's smile widens a little at Suki's desperation. Completely unimpressed, it increases the pressure on the blade a little.
"I told you to stop!"
Before she can come to a clear thought, Suki has already taken a few steps forward and let her flat hand rush to Chitori's cheek with a lightning-fast movement. The sound of the slap echoes in the empty room, accompanied by Suki's racing heartbeat. Without a word, Chitori lets her free hand run forward and grabs Suki's throat.
"Bad girl..."
The blade immediately wanders towards Suki's face. She can feel the freezing metal beneath her eye. But just as her breath comes to a standstill, overcome by fear, she feels how the slight pressure on her cheek abruptly disappears.
Seys has broken free and grabbed Chitori's wrist. Pointing the knife and hand at her heart, he glares at her with hatred. For the first time Chitori seems a little baffled, but skilfully covers it up with another smile.
"Looks like I wasn't concentrating a bit ..."
Suki notices that her breathing is returning to normal a little.
"Are you okay, Suki?"
She nods at him with a slight smile, which Sey is obviously relieved to note.
"I'm sorry ... I was unable to concentrate and let her trick me ..."
"You don't need to -...."
Before Suki can finish the sentence, an unbelievable heat wave suddenly hits her, which makes her stumble back a few meters and almost throws her off balance.As a precaution, Sey also moves back a little from Chitori, whose body is shaken by a threatening tremor. Nothing can be seen of her pupils, instead her eyes glow completely in a bright, angry blood red. When she twisted her mouth into a grin, a pair of long, pointed canine teeth flashed at them. In the next moment, Suki and Sey watch as Chitori's feminine body changes its shape until they finally look into the glowing eyes of a menacing, growling, white lioness. The big cat spreads the claws of its powerful paws and leaves deep scratch marks on the shiny surface. Suki stares as if spellbound at the at the same time frightening and yet unequally elegant animal. She is so overwhelmed by the sight that she does not notice that the cat suddenly tenses its muscles and jumps towards them with a few long leaps. Shortly before the beast pulls her to the ground with its claws, Suki is roughly pushed aside and lands lengthways on the ground. When she opens her eyes, she sees Sey next to her, who is just jumping up, panting, when the lioness turns with a deep growl and sprints at her again.
"Suki! Run! Hurry up!"
He pulls her to her feet with one hand and together they run blindly across the room. The completely empty, circular room, however, offers very little protection. Chitori clearly seems to be enjoying the hunt, because instead of killing them with one blow of her paw at the first opportunity, she ends up cornering her prey on one wall of the room. They only have a good meter of leeway to move backwards while the big cat slowly creeps up to them.
"Suki? Look in my jacket pockets to see if you can find anything useful ... anything ... pointed or spicy ..."
Suki had forgotten that she was still wearing Sey's black jacket. She begins to frantically search through all the pockets, both inside and outside, but most of them are empty. Now that she thinks about it, she also notices how light the coat is, at least compared to usual ... When she found Sey's weapon in it, she was sure that the pockets were full of all sorts of things .. The guards must have taken the things from him before they locked them both in the cells in the basement ... Suki exhales nervously before putting her hand in the last pocket in which there is still a chance of finding something useful ... even if their hope is already leaning towards zero ... Meanwhile, Chitori seems to be tired of just lying in wait for their prey. She lashes out for Sey with one of her strong front paws, but he just manages to avoid her. Suki's hand suddenly feels a cool, smooth object at the bottom of his pocket ...
A loud hiss makes her flinch and the next moment Sey crashes roughly next to Suki against the smooth, white wall of the room.Shocked, she runs to him.
"Sey! Are you okay?"
He sits up again, coughing slightly, and gives her a short nod, just as the white lioness lets her razor-sharp claws scratch the ground in front of them with a deep growl. She is now only a few meters away and is getting ready to rush towards her with one of her nimble leaps. Suki presses her back against the wall behind her to get as much space as possible between her and the animal's deadly claws. She feels that there is no way out for her this time ... in a few seconds the big cat will tear her to pieces with its sharp teeth ...
Just as Suki closes her eyes full of fear, she feels how the pressure of the wall in her back suddenly disappears and she suddenly threatens to fall backward into the void. In her blind panic she reaches for a hold, just catches Sey's arm and pulls him with her with a sharp scream. The next moment she lands painfully on her back. Panting and still trembling with fear, she straightened up, but when she looked around, nothing could be seen of the white room. Instead, it is in a dimly lit, narrow hallway.
"W..Where are we?"
When the expected answer is not received, Suki notices that Sey has also disappeared without a trace. She wonders whether she should call for him, but then decides differently ... this deserted, noiseless walk is clearly too suspicious to her to voluntarily take the risk of attracting anything else ...
Reluctantly, she walks down the hall, noticing with surprise that none of her steps are making a sound ... it's almost as if she wasn't there at all. As she nears the end of the corridor, she discovers a fork that leads her into two new, completely identical corridors. She had read somewhere that you should always go to the right in a maze to get to the exit at some point ... Although she is no longer sure how reliable this source was, she still decides to use her right hand while she is walking, to slide along one of the walls. After wandering from one bend to the next for a while, she suddenly hears an unexpected noise. She holds her breath for a moment, but when it doesn't repeat, she decides to move on. After a few steps, however, she is sure to hear something again ... like a child's giggling ... plus a few soft steps that seem to be approaching ... Gripped by a sudden wave of fear, she runs off blindly, hoping to be able to leave the strange noises behind. As she sprints around another corner, panting, she is sure to see the bright silhouette of a young woman ... Even if the image disappears in a split second, Suki knows with one hundred percent certainty that it was Chitori who was there for her smiled against ... She continues to run hectically, is now completely sure that someone or something is following her ... The steps now sound heavier ... no longer like those of a child ... and they are inexorably closer .Suki doesn't dare to look over her shoulder for fear that her pursuer might already be right behind her. In the background she can constantly hear soft laughter ... Chitori's laughter ... Suddenly a massive, gray wall rises in front of her. She utters a soft curse, but immediately holds a hand over her mouth when she realizes that the steps behind her have also fallen silent. Even if there is no sound to be heard, not even a gentle breath, she is sure that someone is standing behind her ... and waiting for her next movement ... She remembered the metallic object that she discovered in Sey's jacket pocket had and discreetly gropes for it with her hand. When her trembling fingers close around the cold metal, she unexpectedly feels a lot safer. She can even muster enough courage to slowly turn to face her pursuer. She tries to look as confident as possible, but when she sees the dark, faceless figure in front of her, her fear comes back to her unchecked. The being in front of her is more of a shadow than a human ... just a black outline and yet terrifyingly real ... It just stares at her for a moment, which is why Suki decides that she might try the sensible way ... .
"H..Hello? Um ... what .. what do you want from me?"
She doesn't seem to understand the figure, at least she doesn't react to her voice. But when Suki looks more closely, she thinks she sees a slight movement in the shadowy face of the person ... as if she were speaking, but without actually saying a word. Just