CHAPTER - 155

  Narrator: After dinner, the two remained together in the room, sitting close with their legs crossed on the soft carpet, watching TV like two kids.

  They drank black iced tea and snacked on chips from a bag they passed back and forth.

  On the screen vivid images were shown: a gigantic crater had opened in the Mediterranean, north of Africa.

  An S-rank calamity, but thanks to the intervention of thirty local high-rank hunters, it had been contained.

  The images shifted to a celebration in Morocco, with the population applauding and throwing confetti for the rescue team.

  "Have you ever ended up participating in one of these?

  Not counting that mess ten years ago,"

  Selene asked, keeping her eyes on the TV but with a curious tone.

  Dav shrugged lightly.

  "No. Never took part in any.

  Also because I had no powers for a long time and I would have died.

  Training had priority."

  Without saying more, he turned off the TV with the remote and stood up, offering his hand to Selene to help her up.

  "Now it's time for you to sleep and rest."

  Selene made a cute pout, puffing out her cheeks and clenching her hands as if to say

  "Stay."

  Her eyes grew softer under the dim light of the lamp, and her light pajamas added a homely touch to the scene.

  "You need to rest, silly.

  The more you rest, the better,"

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  Dav said, sighing with closed eyes, calmly squeezing her hand.

  She lowered her gaze, then with a soft voice said:

  "And what if I faint during the night? If something happens and I can't get up?

  What would I do alone?.."

  A transparent excuse, yet there was a grain of truth.

  Her body was still exhausted from the intense training and excessive use of aura.

  Dav looked at her silently for a moment and then nodded, accepting.

  "Alright, let's go to sleep then.

  I'll make sure to keep an eye on you so you can sleep without worries."

  With the lights off, the two slipped under the covers.

  Dav lay on his side, one arm under the pillow, while Selene slowly approached and buried her face in his chest, hugging him tightly.

  An embarrassed but sincere gesture.

  Her heart was pounding, and she tried to slow her breathing to not let it show.

  "Can I ask you to tell me?

  We're alone now... only if you feel like it, of course,"

  Selene whispered from under the covers, her voice muffled by her pajamas and Dav's heartbeat.

  Dav stared ahead into the darkness, his expression serious.

  Then, with a steady voice, he said, "Alright."

  Selene clung a little closer to him, ready to listen.

  "As you already know, I had no powers before.

  One day, by pure chance, in a dead-end alley, I saw a man.

  He had a disturbing aura.

  He was about to harm a woman.

  At first, I just wanted to leave.

  You know how it is... no powers on my side, and that man radiated a red aura.

  What would someone else have done at that moment?"

  Selene answered in a low voice:

  "A normal person without powers honestly wouldn't have risked it.

  They would have thought about their own life at that moment."

  Dav lowered his gaze and kissed her head gently.

  "Then I guess I'm not a normal person.

  Head held high, even at the cost of my life, I managed to make the woman escape.

  But I had to face him.

  He was an ugly brute. Incredibly strong.

  And by mistake, he managed to unleash the curse that had been blocking my powers.

  It only took a punch. No pain... but he lost all his power.

  And I unlocked mine."

  He paused briefly, catching his breath.

  "From that day on, I started hunting. Assassins, criminals, people who deserved the worst."

  Selene slightly lifted her face, her eyes wide open in the dim light.

  "Tell me about your first hunt... who was it?"

  Dav smiled faintly, nostalgic.

  "An organ trafficker. He lived in a port city, he called himself

  > The Butcher. <

  I followed him for three days, without sleeping.

  When I was finally sure it was him, I confronted him.

  He was a coward. He had a magic weapon, a knife that paralyzed nerves.

  But my power was stronger.

  I grabbed him by the neck and made him confess everything, then I tore him apart with his own knife."

  Selene watched him fascinated, breathless.

  "So you've always been a hero, even without a costume."

  Dav shrugged slightly.

  "I'm not a hero. I just did what I felt was right."

  In the silence that followed, Selene clung to him even more.

  "Then I'm glad you're here now,"

  she whispered.

  "Silly girl, you should sleep."

  And so they stayed, embraced under the covers, while outside the window the full moon watched over them.

  END OF CHAPTER - 155