Ch 8: Venturng Forward- Part 2

The hallway was crowded, bodies moving in every direction, but Nova cut through the noise like a knife. 

Anna stayed just behind him, eyes low, doing her best to ignore the attention burning into her from every angle. 

The stares didn't surprise her. The whispers didn't sting. Not anymore. But they never stopped being exhausting.

Then someone stepped in front of them.

A merchant, draped in pomp and smugness, blocked Nova's path with a grin. He looked at Nova briefly before turning to Anna with a practiced leer.

"Well, aren't you a bold one. Strolling around with a little slave like that on your arm?" 

He chuckled. 

"Exotic taste. Dangerous, too."

The man said, voice oily. 

Anna stiffened, but said nothing. Her eyes dropped automatically, the old instinct kicking in before she could stop it.

Nova didn't respond.

Not with words.

His hand shot out.

The man barely had time to blink before Nova's fingers closed around his throat. In one smooth motion, Nova lifted him off the ground. No ceremony. No effort. Just pure strength.

The merchant's feet kicked uselessly, arms flailing, choking sounds escaping as his face twisted with panic.

Conversations around them went silent. Heads turned. Gasps rose from the crowd.

Anna froze. Her heart jumped—once in alarm, then again with something deeper. No one had ever stepped in like that. Not without expecting something. Not without owning her first.

Nova's expression didn't change. Calm. Focused. As if the man dangling in front of him was just something to be removed from his path.

Anna stepped forward, her voice sharp but quiet. 

"Nova. Stop."

He didn't move.

"Guards are coming. You won't get the vault key if they drag us in."

Still nothing.

She grabbed his wrist. His arm felt like metal wrapped in skin. She could feel the tension—he could've snapped the merchant's neck with the slightest twitch.

"Nova…If this mission matters, let him go." 

She said again, firmer now. 

His eyes flicked toward her. Not with rage. With calculation. Then, without a word, he released the merchant.

The man collapsed, gasping, wheezing as he hit the floor hard.

Nova turned without hesitation and started walking again.

Anna grabbed his arm, this time to keep up. Even now, after that moment of violence, his pace was steady, casual—like he hadn't just assaulted a high-standing merchant in broad daylight.

But the commotion had drawn too much attention.

Behind them, shouting.

Guards were moving. Fast.

Anna glanced back, swore under her breath. 

"They're coming. That guy must've screamed through a comm."

Nova didn't bother looking.

"They'll trap us if we don't break line of sight. We need a door. One of the officer access rooms."

Anna said. 

Nova scanned the wall as they ran. A row of sealed doors. All needing high-rank clearance.

Anna pointed to the nearest one.

"There! If we can get inside—just for a few minutes—they won't know which direction we went."

Nova stepped up to the panel, pulled the severed hand from earlier from inside his coat, and pressed the thumb against the scanner.

The light flickered green.

The door slid open with a metallic hiss.

They slipped inside just as the guards turned the corner behind them.

The door locked again with a heavy clank.

Silence.

Anna leaned back against the wall, catching her breath. Her pulse was still pounding from the rush.

Nova stood near the entrance, relaxed, one hand in his coat.

Anna stared at him for a beat. 

"You really were going to kill that man."

"He insulted you."

"I'm used to that. It's not worth risking the mission."

She said quietly.

Nova glanced at her, voice low and even. 

"I decide what's worth it."

Anna studied him for a long second. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. A breath escaped her nose as she sank into one of the seats by the wall.

"…Still…. Thank you."

She said. 

He said nothing.

She looked at him again.

"You don't seem like someone who does things without reason. So why defend someone like me?"

She said. 

"You're mine and I don't like my things tainted by others." 

Nova replied simply.

Anna blinked, surprised by the bluntness.

Then she let out a dry laugh. 

"That's… comforting."

Nova didn't laugh. Didn't smile.

He just stepped away from the door and said. 

"We move again in two minutes. When the patrol rotates."

Anna nodded, her voice quieter. 

"Got it."

But inside, the warmth still hadn't left her chest.

Nova stood with his arms crossed, eyes locked on the sealed door they had just slipped through. No footsteps approached. No alarms. For now, they were safe.

Anna let out a slow breath.

"We're gonna need a map of this place if we want to reach the auction house without getting turned into paste."

"There's one on the central access system, but we don't have clearance to—"

She added, moving to a wall panel.

Before she could finish, Nova stepped past her and raised his hand toward the access console beside him. 

A transparent interface flickered into view, showing locked layers of Clavacis's internal data.

Then, without hesitation, Nova pressed his palm against it.

Aether surged from his body—raw and unstable.

The system screen buzzed violently. Sparks leapt from the edges. Anna took a step back as the panel began to glitch and flicker, struggling to contain the foreign input. 

Within seconds, a full map unfolded before them, full internal schematics and location markers laid bare.

Anna stared, stunned. 

"You just... broke a class-three security system. With your hand."

Nova glanced at her. 

"It's not hard. Anything that runs on Aether can be bent if you understand the flow."

She shook her head.

"Is there anything you can't do?"

"If it involves Aether, I can probably do it."

He said calmly.

"That's not normal."

"It is for me. It's how I was created."

He replied. 

Anna frowned. 

"Created?"

Nova looked at her, unreadable. 

"Keep digging, and your lifespan might cut itself short."

The warning wasn't cruel. Just matter-of-fact.

Anna held her tongue, but something flickered in her eyes. Then she turned back to the glowing map.

"There. That hallway leads into the infrastructure tunnels below the security vaults. We can slip into the auction floor undetected." 

She said, pointing. 

"How long do we have?"

She checked the blinking alerts on the panel. Her face tensed. 

"Auction schedule just got pushed forward. Sloth class starts in a few hours."

Nova didn't hesitate. 

"Then we move now."

Anna nodded and stepped back from the map, her finger still hovering near the route she'd pointed out.

"This tunnel here is usually used for transport drones. It's narrow and badly lit, but if we move fast, we'll hit the service corridor right beneath the auction floor."

Nova's eyes swept over the projected path. He memorized every turn, every junction.

"We'll bypass the security perimeter entirely. But if we take too long or trigger any of the motion sensors, we're screwed."

Anna added. 

Nova dismissed the map with a swipe of his hand. 

"We won't trigger anything."

Anna gave him a quick look.

"Confident."

"Accurate."

He stepped toward the exit panel and paused, listening. No footsteps outside. He raised his hand again and pulsed a thin wave of aether into the door.

The locking mechanism responded instantly, releasing with a soft click.

"You sure you're not some lost god?" 

Anna muttered, half-joking.

Nova didn't answer.

Instead, he pulled the door open just wide enough to slip through.

Anna followed.

As they crept back into the corridor, the last thing she said was barely more than a whisper: 

"If we're lucky, we make it in time."

Nova didn't look back. 

"I don't rely on luck."